Bloody Valentine
by InsaneScriptist
Summary: Reincarnated as the older foster sister to Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy you'd expect her to be a famous pirate. You'd be wrong. She's not a marine either. Instead she's in the murky middle as the world's most infamous bounty hunter. Now what's a reincarnated witch to do in a world where fruits give powers? Live. HP/? Fem!Harry Warning-Not always chronological
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I blame all the HP/OP crossovers I've been reading lately.

**Edit: 10/22/2012**: Decided to touch up the chapter in preparation for the later tweaking of other chapters. Basically, I added on several paragraphs at the beginning and the warning -mostly to clear up things that people asked me about that I thought I had already made obvious.

**Warning**: This story has or contains: Minor and Major canon fuckery of both HP and OP. Genderbend of HP (as in fem!Harry). Mention of mythology both created (for OP) and not. Plot points and information that may not be relevant used until many chapters later. Words that may confuse you and the author's attempt at Japanese puns. Evidence/reasonable conjecture destroying several fanon beliefs (particularly in HP). Some science and math. The author making math mistakes. Inconsistent time-lines (a.k.a. not always chronological chapters -pay attention to the author's notes). The author's attempt to portray characters views accurately from their perspective. Use of _very_ minor characters. Characters being dense and not noticing things. Characters seeing more that what is there. Genuinely insane/inhuman characters. Characters being characters. Characters being complicated and having complicated relationships. OCs. An exploration of differences in behavior thanks to gender-norms and gender-bias. An in-depth exploration of magic and rituals in HP. An exploration of devil fruits, the sea, sea-stone in OP. A comparison of HP's muggle and magical society to society in OP. Politics, illegal and immoral behavior including various types of sex, threesomes, excessive violence, theft, killing/death of random underlings, character death and underage drinking. Innuendo and sarcasm galore. An examination of mental disorders -particularly depression, alcoholism. The examination of varying beliefs/lines of thought in-depth and characters being characters and thus not me (Just in case I offend you a pre-emptive apology and warning that I _will_ probably offend you once I get there). Some borrowing of concepts/character bases from places other than OP and HP. Somewhat HP and reincarnated HP-centric. I think that's everything, but it's likely not..

**Warning:** This story grew way beyond what was originally planned for it. Originally it was supposed to be around forty chapters -max. So it's getting an organizational overhaul. It is still organized in arcs, but the revision is so that the beginning chapters make for a more coherent Part I. Part I, can be divided into Part I-a which is overly general, covers snippets of childhood and general changes made there and Part I-b shows some of the changes a strong and motivated person can make on the world without being a pirate or marine just by interacting with it/others. This chapter is obviously part of Part I.

* * *

Chapter 1: Death and Rebirth

_Unplottable Location, England 20XX_

It was in a clean stone room illuminated by the veins of precious and magical conductive material threaded through the stone walls, ceiling and floor that two people were located. The room was clearly a product wrought by magic for preforming more intricate rituals as there was no natural way for the stone to have such intricate and unnatural patterns and designs. That wasn't even accounting for how well the stones fit against one another and how the power from one stone could be directed from one to another.

Mostly, the stones just provided the room with light and a safe way to drain off any excess magic from a ritual and store it. They were also pretty. The old lady knew this because when she was younger she had designed the room. Admittedly, it had a different purpose then but with magic and knowledge it was easy enough to modify it to suit her current needs. Creator's privilege and all that.

"I still say you should have gone with the ghastly blue lights for this room. The white glow is not favoring this face." She heard the man, who was younger than the woman mentioned from where he leaned up against the wall. He had been forbidden from walking through the room as he could damage her work and rituals were tricky things to begin with. He changed his appearance slightly by darkening his complexion. His looks did improve with the slight bronzing but only slightly. He was a handsome man anyway. That did not mean that he could not get away without comment. Her lips curled up into an evil smile and she was grateful that he wasn't facing her.

"University has clearly had a bad influence on you Professor Lupin." The older lady replied wryly from her place on the floor. "That vanity of yours, all those wild parties and the fact that your students don't recognize you thanks to your metamorphic talents. You honestly have to be the only Oxford Professor who can get away with sleeping with your students."

"That was one-gah! Why do I even bother trying to defend myself against that anymore? Much less, why was I idiot enough to tell you?"

"You were a quivering wreck, she was gold-digging bitch and you wanted your favorite god-mother to help you before something horrible forced you to quit in disgrace from Oxford or to marry her. It's not like you knew her as a student before she took your class."

"That question was entirely rhetorical and you're my only god-mother. Besides, the vanity is something I got from you."

"I don't deny that you probably picked up on a number of my bad habits over the years Teddy. Besides, aren't you a favored professor for the fact that you blackmail your students into doing better? I'll admit that my moral education wasn't the focus for most of my life since you picked up such habits from me."

She let the tension in the room stagnate for a minute. "Do you think I'm a bad mum?"

It might seem like a random question but she knew how to move a conversation in the way she wanted without totally changing the subject. There was being obvious and then there was being misleading. Being misleading was far more fun as she had found and allowed her plenty of leeway when it came to the truth. She tended to always speak it, but it wasn't always the one a person wanted.

"You've had your moments." Teddy replied as honestly as possible. She knew she had her moments.

"So I am then." She stated playfully. It wasn't a guilt trip but a way to move conversation along.

"When did I say that? At least you learned from your mistakes. Some of my students, I've gotten horror stories from about things their parents have done. If I'm lucky it makes sense and follows grammar properly."

"Assigning memoirs of the most embarrassing thing a relative has done again? For shame Professor Lupin, for shame. You did bring up the fact that I read you the Brothers Grimm Collection of Fairy-tales when you were little and then I had the meeting with your teacher about you traumatizing your primary-school classmates with the 'true' version of Cinderella?"

"Not that. Never that. That was brilliant, as was riding on the various magical creatures once you thought I was big enough and knew enough to not piss them off. I was speaking more on my unfair grounding after OWLS."

"It wasn't unfair. You got a Poor in Arithmancy and an Acceptable in Runes."

"I passed everything else with E's and O's -including electives I didn't take and History!"

"Exactly!" She chirped far too chipper considering the situation.

"Need I remind you that typically a person usually does better when they're not busy trying to not bite someone's head off due to a mix of inherited lycanthrophic traits, the full-moon and late onset puberty? The retest I scored another E and O and on my NEWT was much of the same as you well know. Now explain to me this mess you've got all over the floor because I can only recognize a few things and I hope that I'm reading this right. It's been years since I've done much beyond the basics. Runes and Arithmancy are your strong suit. Not mine."

"You'll remember it easy enough, as I was the one that taught you it. Just let it come back. As you know, I'm dying. Not today, not next week and probably not within the next year. I'm getting this prepared before I'm not able to. You know my prognosis, and my will and all that."

"Yeah, that I do. I do also remember some of this, these runic commands, the ritual parameters... this looks a lot like a soul transfer ritual from one of the books in the Black Library, but you've modified it heavily since that one requires several human sacrifices, a still living body but previously soulless to inhabit and it kills you if I remember it correctly. This has something of an effect that'll start once you're dead...and that symbol there... Exactly what is this now?"

"It's a ritual, Teddy." She ignored his scowl and mutters. "It does involve a soul transfer, but not until after I'm dead as you've pointed out. Summed down to its basics, my memories, abilities and all that makes me be me up until the moment of my death are going to be copied and sealed into my soul. You remember the theories and laws behind soul magic right?"

"I remember them. So instead of having your magic imprint and tether your soul down like a ghost, or fracture it like for a Horcrux, you'd appear as a blank slate and then those runes there mean... Dear Merlin! You're manipulating the cycle of re-birth and re-incarnation! That's if I read those other runes right! Did I? A set time limit and conditions for remembering this life so as to prevent undue complications as a child, or so I suppose. No set location, why...? Ah, that's because location can't be specified without a sympathetic link which because of Consuetudo's law of ritual sympathy. It couldn't be done anyway thanks to that incident and your magic all those years ago -at least inside an established magical family unless you'd want to be a squib which you don't... so there you go. By Merlin and Morgana, this is unbelievable."

"Bingo Teddy-bear! You're such a smart lad. It makes an old lady feel secure that her boy won't be defenseless without her around."

"You say that like you're going to die next month! You're not that much older than I am! Not even two decades! You've double-checked all this out?"

"Who do you think I am Teddy?" She crooned.

"My god-mother and the ever-victorious and virtuous-" She let her godson's prattle comfort her. Most of what he was saying was the flattery that anyone that knew her knew she disliked. They also knew that she wasn't all that virtuous, and knew that her morality fell well below saintly. Eventually Teddy ran out of prattle and she gave him a fond smile.

"I checked it out as far as I could. There are things that I can't account for, like where in the world I'll be born and gender. That would require binding myself to a bloodline with this as you figured out. If that bloodline died out then I wouldn't be able to reincarnate anymore. I couldn't fix that problem as accidents do happen. That's even with me borrowing quite a bit of the Unspeakable's own research library for my own personal use. Binding myself to a family line is something I do not want to do. You understand why right? As for gender, it's a fifty-fifty chance for gender anyway and it'll be interesting to be a boy, I think if that ever happened. If not, then I already know how to deal with being born a woman. The ritual is set up so that wherever I end up, I'll have time to adapt to the locals and region and customs there. I know a lot but there's nothing like being a native to truly appreciate it, even if it's being the slightly odd native. There's a chance that I'll end up in something magical that's not-human but that's rather slight all told."

"So you could end up as a Veela?" Teddy asked with a lavicious grin.

"You've been a widower for how long now?" She asked. "Sweet Circe, I have no idea how she put up with you. You're incorrible, Teddy. You really should set a better example for your brat." She teased her god-son. Her godson's child was already grown after all.

"I really should, but no one will replace her in my heart. How did you ever recover from losing your own heart like that?"

"Slowly." She replied curtly. She didn't like talking about it. "Now I just updated my will last week so even if I die from the side-effects of carrying out such a ritual, you'll still get everything worth having and a few things not."

"That's not reassuring in the least." He replied with his hair turning a worried grey-blue.

"I'll just pass out from exhaustion. My mind is still sharp enough and my body strong enough to carry me through this. There's no certainty that I could do this next month after all."

"Your skill in comforting people is still non-existent, even after all these years and time spent raising me."

"I'm not a comforting person. I'd rather fix the problem, than comfort victims." Dear Merlin, all those people in the war she had to inform that whoever had perished. Some wanted details, some just accused her of letting them die in their grief and some just mourned. A few just broke, and those were the worst. Her meager comforting skills were no match to that sort of grief and no help, so she just stopped comforting people all together with a few exceptions. Even then, her skills in such an area were not the most developed even after raising her godchild. "I can put away my guns but that doesn't mean that I still don't have them."

Her god-son grimaced and took out a bar of chocolate, broke half off in his mouth and handed the other half to her. She took a piece out, handed the rest back, ate her small piece and rinsed her mouth out with conjured water.

"Teddy, how is it that you've had that shirt for years and yet you always have had chocolate?"

"Priorities."

"You need new ones." She commented before stepping into the ritual circle as a way to end the conversation.

Then she began the ritual. It was one of the most complex pieces of magick -she felt that most rituals needed the more archaic spelling of the word- she had ever wrought and one of the simplest for all the aggravation it caused her during it. She then finished and as predicted -passed out.

She woke up in her bed.

She still hurt like a bitch from the effects of casting and going through the ritual by herself. She cursed her own youthful stupidity for the umpteenth time but probably not the last. If it weren't for that, Teddy could have helped and saved her considerable strain. Considering her pain-tolerance, she judged that ritual had managed to rank up there next to Voldemort's crucio.

"How long have I been out?" She croaked out. Teddy held out a glass of water with a straw. She found it amusing that it was one of those bendy straws. Those were always amusing to her for some reason.

"It's been four days. I told your secretary that you were being stubborn about going to meetings and work while sick with the flu, I stopped you and she cancelled everything. You've got the week clear. Aren't I a good godson?"

"Don't you have other things to do during your fall break? Like grade papers?" Four days and she still felt that bad? Voldemort's crucio had been surpassed or she was getting just plain ancient for all that she still looked to be in her forties at best. Magic was a wonderful thing.

"Done. They showed a remarkable lack of effort and understanding of the language for the majority. One or two were quite good. Now do you want anything to eat?"

"Something that'll settle my stomach before it remembers that it's hungry and you become food."

"On it."

He was such a good boy. Too bad that she would have to leave him so soon. Conducting such a ritual when already a little more than half-dead wasn't conductive to preserving health and she did have enemies who positively _hated_ her. That was fine. She hated them too.

* * *

She figured that the world had an odd sense of irony when she died on Halloween by the killing curse. She was pretty sure that most would attribute her death to the actual and literal stab in the back she suffered -complete with poisoned blade. She did notice that it was a goblin work knife and somehow had basilisk venom in it before she used it against them. Someone did something risky and illegal to get or make that. It was also for nothing. That actually wouldn't kill her, idiots.

They wouldn't dare attack her at her home, but apparently the hallways of her workplace were fair game. The knife guy was pretty good to get the drop on her, but it was just sad that she had to be over halfway in the grave for him to succeed in stabbing her before getting killed himself by the same knife he had just stabbed her with. She had no remorse as she gutted him before tossing the nicely balanced knife into someone's leg. In short, her other six attackers didn't live either and she was died with a victorious and challenging grin on her face.

Really, after the War where she became quite the frightening figure to any opposition you'd think they'd learn how to _properly _plan an ambush. While these idiots weren't the neo-DeathEaters they were also quite dangerous because they weren't as into reigns of terror as opposed to Voldemort. It really didn't matter, at her will reading enough evidence would be provided so that the entire group of 'political activists' would spend time in a newly warded Azkaban. The wonders of politics allowed her to visit the prison and she had added onto the wards, specifically a few of the Black family's curse wards, and a few of her own creation.

* * *

Being dead was boring. Nice but boring. She had already visited those that she wanted to and felt more than a little out of place. She'd remember this after all and knew she would. Reuniting with Hermione however made being dead worth the lecture. Then Hermione left. So she drifted around aimlessly.

She wondered who had been most pissed about what she had revealed in her will. The idiots who had sent those noobs after her and were getting shunted to Azkaban, the wizarding world at her for not revealing that she was dying earlier or the other numerous surprises buried in her will to be unleashed in the reading of it and the conditions of getting them -some of which she knew would be violated the instant she died. Those offical idiots not putting on a grand funeral for her? Not happening.

Eventually she realized that she had made a mistake somewhere in her drifting. She _had_ to have. This afterlife was assuredly not hers -she did _leave_ it or at least the people she wanted to visit- as there were some truly odd people about. Had the Buddhist belief of multiple worlds been correct if misinterpreted? Regret over leaving and curiosity to explore waged war. Curiosity won. It usually did. That's why she got into Gryffindor in the first damn place.

* * *

_East Blue_

_Ten Years Ago_

It had been a nice week weather-wise which was about the only saving grace of it, a much aggravated and young bartender thought. She was starting to fully take over the bar that her uncle had owned and worked before his heart decided to spasm like a fish on dry land. It was the family's bar and had been for generations. Her uncle was only working it because her grandma had passed on, as otherwise he would have been out philandering. Admittedly only close –by distance anyway, considering the number of children her uncle had fathered- family remembered how they had got it now, but in a small town -even one with a harbor- that meant just about everyone. Before her Uncle had 'ran' it, her grandmother had, and before that had been her grandfather's parents. Her Uncle however, had always had rather poor timing as he gave up the ghost just before the contracts with the various merchants that stocked the bar were due to come up for renewing. It was a rather serious problem.

Dawn Island was a larger than average sized but still rather insignificant island in the East Blue. It had a plethora of rocky and mountainous terrain which made it unsuitable for building large tracts of developed land beyond that of the Gray Terminal, Edge Town and High Town which were parts of the same large and walled city of the Goa Kingdom. The parts that weren't mountainous instead were heavily forested with jungles that were full of wild beasts that could match those of the Grand Line -or so it was said.

This meant that any towns and cities were rather isolated from each other and were on the coast unless someone and their cargo felt like braving the jungle. This meant that aside from some local crazies, trade was utterly sea dependent. For a small village where her bar was the only damn bar for hours relying on foot trade was suicidal in the business sense. Fuusha Village was a damn dirt speck on the map of the world and so lacked a proper brewery. All of her alcohol was imported except for the bit of moonshine and homemade wines that she and everyone else made as well if they knew how and wanted to. At least the merchants that worked with the importing of the stock at least knew her since she would often go and pick up the deliveries -if person but not actually carry them. They were under the illusion that she couldn't carry the barrels. She let them keep it as who really thought about a girl carrying out the stocking and restocking by herself after the alcohol was shipped? It was a successfully kept immediate-family secret on how she had no trouble with heavy tasks.

She often recruited a few lads and men in town and off ship with a few promises of drink for the work done. This earned her a number of admirers that she didn't want. She didn't undercut them all that often when it came to paying them with drink either -at least as it was often out of her private stock that was rarely otherwise used. It was revenge enough that they got drunk so quickly off of it.

Since her uncle had passed on, that meant that the bar in its entirety had passed to her. Its upkeep, the management of stock and finances and a whole lot of responsibility that she wasn't sure she was ready for at only seventeen -even though she had already been doing it for years. She just wasn't sure that she wanted everyone to know that. She could have always written to one of her cousins and asked for help. A number of her uncle's children were friendly enough to write and send assistance if need be, but they weren't close by either. Nor could she borrow one of the men-folk in town for an escort as it was the start of summer and the fields needed them out working.

That was why she was on a semi-familiar island looking for a building that she only half-remembered and was furiously despairing about finding. She tried to place where it was in her mind, but the town had been rebuilt sometime in-between her last visit and now. Pirates probably.

She was so deep in thought was Makino that she didn't notice walking into a handsome young man with bright red hair who had been wearing a straw hat and knocking him down.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention-" She apologized.

"Yare, yare, it's alright. A pretty lady like you could only hurt a man's heart and ego by not giving him your name." The man grinned as he set himself on his feet and dusted himself off. His smile was easy and carefree as he placed his hat back on his head.

Makino was instantly at ease. He was a nice man, and handsome but he was her age. She knew what guys that age were after -every older man she had known since childhood had only warned her about that and embarrassed their own kids so thoroughly that it was no wonder that the majority of them had left elsewhere for a while before returning and settling down.

"Such a charmer," Makino replied. "However, it's only polite to introduce yourself first before asking for a name."

"Name's Shanks."

"I'm Makino. Nice to meet you."

"Nice name." His manner was friendly and easy. With a crooked smile that invited sin, he asked, "So where is this Miss Makino going so that I can see her safely to her destination. It's only polite to offer-"

"You don't have to as I'm the one that ran into-" She really couldn't do that to someone she had ran into!

"Nonsense! I'll take you to where ever you want to go. So where is it? To Paradise, the New World, the next island over? Oh! I know! You want to go to-" He babbled.

She chuckled at his nervousness –the one that old lady Shizume had made her practice for days to get just right since giggling was obnoxious- and manipulated his jaw shut with a click of his teeth sounding and placed a finger on his lips. He practically vibrated with suppressed chatter and excitement. It was endearing. It was like he was a little kid.

"None of those I'm afraid. I recently inherited my bar despite running and working for it as long as I care to recall and I only need to find Shiroseki so that I can renew the stock contracts. Can't have a bar without alcohol and lots of it."

"Then I'll lead you to there. It'll be an adventure!" Shanks proclaimed and he did so quite easily -after getting them lost once or twice.

She welcomed his presence during negotiations. Shiroseki's son had taken over his father's position and he obviously didn't believe in a girl being able to run a bar since he kept looking at her and then at Shanks nervously.

As thanks, after the contracts and orders were sorted out, Makino allowed Shanks to lead her to dinner, which then somehow led to drinks and then she followed him to his rented hotel bed. The waking up on the morning after was only slightly awkward as even with the alcohol they had remained clear-headed.

Shanks was clearly an old hand with alcohol and how could someone who owns a bar know when they're getting ripped off if they don't know their product? Lastly for Makino, it would be the last chance in ages to leave Dawn Island, much less do something so rebellious against everything she had ever known in her sleepy home-town without it being town gossip for time immemorial.

After the initial morning confusion was settled -which took some doing on her part since she wasn't anywhere used to doing things like this- she initiated and had a more sober repeat of the night's activities with the red haired man. While recovering after that bout, she told him that he should be a pirate if he's going to be breaking pretty girl's hearts like hers by leaving her for the ocean. Makino didn't quite know where the confidence to tease him was coming from but she was relishing in it.

He responded that he already was a pirate and had traveled the Grand Line as part of a pirate crew. He planned to do so again once he was a famous Captain of his own crew. Then, he'd come and visit her and the bar on Dawn Island with his crew. She told him, and probably against her better judgment, that he better not forget to visit and Shanks replied, "How could someone be such a fool as to not remember someone who gave them such a gift?"

That single line led to another repeat and Makino who was now long over her virginal shyness if somewhat sore took control over their actions for another round. Initially her ravishing of Shanks was rough and demanding with bites to the shoulder, chest and anywhere she could reach in their current position. She placed more scratch marks though and over the scratches previously left on the young man's back. Eventually, the touches grew softer and gentler and Makino tried to mark him with bruising kisses as equally as he did her earlier and the night before while she was slowly riding him to completion. The two of them knew that the last round was a parting gift as the Grand Line had and would claim many lives and piracy was a dangerous occupation. Bar-tending by comparison was positively tame especially in such a small town. Eventually she noticed the time by the position of the sun now shining brilliantly in the room, Makino dressed and brushed her hair with her usual bandanna charmingly acting as a scarf.

Shanks watched from the bed with interest as she freshened up and left the room at the inn he was staying at. He heard her take a few steps before she turned back towards the room. Did she forget something? She peeked back in the room with a saucy grin and wink, "Thanks for taking me to paradise, Shanks."

Shanks' grin widened as he felt laughter bubble up through him before he burst out laughing. After his laughter had subsided, he rolled out of bed and put on his pants. "Damn. What kind of woman is she?" A few moments of contemplation had his hat on his head again. He noticed that his hat felt a little off and found that yes, she did leaving him a parting gift in marking him heavily. Strange, most women weren't even able to truly scratch him, but he knew he'd get several comments for the marks that were showing up. Him being a redhead was just trouble at times. Sun burns being the worst of it.

"Guess that makes me a really lucky fellow and an even luckier one once I see her again. Should get on that now I suppose. I feel like I was supposed to be doing something else though, so what was it..." The red haired pirate asked himself. "Ah, yes. It was convincing that one fellow I had heard about to join... I need a crew to Captain after all since Captain Roger went and set us loose after we got back. Now, I have to wonder... did he have a lady love to get back to?"

* * *

_East Blue, Dawn Island, Fuusha Village_

_Ten Years Later_

It was a quiet day in Fuusha village as most days were. Makino wished that Shanks would visit, even though he had probably long forgotten about that day and night. She hadn't though. She had kept track of his progress as a pirate captain of his own crew through the news and the sporadic visits of Monkey D. Garp. She was proud of the man she had lost her virginity to over a decade ago. He hadn't left her exactly alone either, as she had carried a physical reminder of him and those precious hours insider her for nine months. The pregnancy was an easy one, which was a blessing.

It was a bit of a village scandal at the time given what was going on in the world as the Pirate King had been caught and then there were rumors about a possible heir, but Makino was over the moon at the time even if her responsibilities had easily been multiplied threefold. From that one night and morning in early May she had gotten her most precious gift. Her daughter.

She favored Shanks strongly. Her hair was as a vibrant red as his and styled similarly to the both of them. Unless covered by a bandanna her hair had a tendency to be more of a mess than what she remembered Shanks' hair being and her own typically straight hair. This could be partially attributed to the fact that she had bangs and unlike her parents didn't let them grow out and into the rest of her hair. In fact, the bangs were intentionally uneven and she wouldn't let anyone fix them, but she made it work.

Makino remembered Shanks having extremely light blue eyes, although the wanted posters she had seen always showed him with dark eyes. Her own eyes might best be described as dark chocolate brown. Her daughter's eyes were more of a bright violet color that could darken to black when she became serious, a trait that she must have gained from her father.

Her personality was similar to what Makino had seen in those hours spent with Shanks as well, if somewhat more somber at times and far more driven but always cheerful and optimistic. She was a curious and inquisitive child, who often studied the world around her with more intelligence and wisdom than a child should have. The mayor of Fuusha village had long ago declared her an old soul. She quite often proved it too with cutting insights into various discussions over a pint of ale for the Mayor and juice for herself. Her child's raw intellect was astounding as she had long ago found and read through all the books in the village which might have been why she received the birds and bees talk at seven along with knowing what nepotism is, among other things that most people don't learn about until they're grown.

Luckily, only a few people actually questioned her about her daughter's father and then they spread the word that when combined with the small-town rumor mill meant that she had met her supposed soul-mate and it was love at first sight and then he was taken away by the sea or something like that. They had gotten more outrageous before it settled on a truth that she'd allow the rest of the world to know -her father was an overly charming man with red hair that sailed the oceans. It was close enough without the stigma of pirate-blood. Her daughter was a pirate's daughter and he was a powerful pirate. It showed.

Makino had lately stopped questioning where and how she was getting the money for the various books that had been piling up in and out of her room or if she was paying for them at all whenever she went to the walled city of Goa. Makino had also long since stopped wondering for the sake of her continued mental health how she managed to cross into the city and back so regularly without issue.

Instead after Makino realized what her daughter was doing when she was 'out' Makino set some ground rules and guidelines to follow and made a mental note to see if there was a way to somehow, on accident, hit Garp in the head with a cast-iron skillet -again. Her guidelines were mostly common sense such as always having a ranged weapon and something sharp handy. These guidelines included knowing how to use said weapons and old lady Shizume had surprised Makino by knowing how to use a variety of weapons. They also included to always have extra ammo and to wear protective clothing which the old firecracker informed her daughter to make sure that it was at least form flattering. It also included the good sense to not show off if it's not necessary as no one likes a braggart. Don't antagonize the wildlife was eventually added, although that one Makino recognized was a lost cause. The number of 'pets' over the years was astounding as was the variety.

She loved her daughter dearly, but there were times that they couldn't connect and Makino didn't know if it was because she was also Shanks' daughter or if it was some quality that was distinctly her own or because of her startling and intimidating intelligence. So they found topics and hobbies in common and worked from there. Surprisingly, cooking and running the bar and other domestic chores were part of their common ground. Luffy-watching was another bit of common ground as the boy needed it. Garp could be so irresponsible at times.

Makino then watched as Luffy dragged in a familiar face. He was a bit older, his beard fuller than the last picture she had of him and three scars across his eye and a familiar straw hat. Shanks grinned, and Makino nodded to the unanswered question with a gesture to mean that they had to talk.

Makino quickly sent Luffy a look which meant business and told him to go find her daughter. She motioned for Shanks to sit at the bar while she poured him three fingers of whiskey with a unique expression on her face that said that he would need it. He drank it in a single shot and didn't cough. She raised an eyebrow at that feat. It wasn't the 'nice' whiskey she had poured. It was small revenge for taking around a decade to get back to her.

"You have a daughter?" Shanks asked more than slightly aghast and far more breathless than he'd like. The whiskey was stronger than he expected.

"So do you." She confirmed. "She knows, but the rest of the town doesn't. Try to keep it that way, would you?"

"She- she's mine?"

Shanks watched as the bartender with green hair that he had bedded around a decade ago, smile evilly as she nodded confirmation.

Shanks moved to say something, but the words got caught in his throat. Shanks then slid bonelessly onto the bar in a dead faint.

Makino looked at the whiskey bottle to see the label and brand. A good sniff confirmed her guess. This was something that someone in her family had made. It was a good imitation of the real thing but far more potent than the label. She filled the shot glass up again. She tossed it back with ease and grinned as it burned her throat. Really, who had ever heard of a bartender getting drunk? She could also charge him for it as well. Because, who had ever heard of a band of sober pirates?

* * *

A/N: The first posted revision of like the first twenty some-odd chapters. I hope to get the revisions of Part I done by Christmas Break. College kills my writing time. I write long and it takes many, many revisions before it gets posted.

By the way, I think this is the first time it's a Harry Potter cross-over with a decidedly different world that didn't involve dues ex machina/godly intervention, the Veil of Death or HP being immortal and surviving multiple apocalypses.

Important points:

1. Makino's age has been upped by a few years to make this work as her age has never been given but is assumed to be in her early to mid thirties in canon. If she's 35 in canon (now) she was 16 and managing the bar when Shanks visited (in canon). In this story she's the same age as Shanks now or technically two weeks older than him. Shanks is still of canon age for those willing to do the math. Makino is far more epic than one thinks and she's a mostly honest business woman.

2. For those that don't feel like doing the math or research I'll put it in simple terms for you. After one last run through the Grand Line, Roger deposited his treasure at Raftel (supposedly). Roger then ran back down the Grand Line and into South Blue to spend some of his remaining time on earth with his sweetheart Portgas D. Rouge. Before visiting Rouge he had disbanded his crew, which is why Shanks is on his own and meandering through East Blue. Luffy is seven when Shanks is twenty seven. When Luffy is seven, Ace is ten. Doing the math means that Shanks was seventeen when Roger was executed and fourteen when he first joined Roger's crew. Ace technically should be eleven, but was born eleven months late on Jan 1st. Shanks' daughter and Ace were technically conceived within the same time frame (late April, early May) which means late January, early February as their birthdays. Makino wasn't victim to the World Government's purge because of the lack of officials and the closeness of the community and it is East Blue not South Blue. She was also born on time, unlike Ace and thus is eleven months older. Due to Roger knowing about Ace being conceived the absolute earliest Roger could have known was June since I doubt they had reliable pregnancy tests available. According to the One Piece wiki, Roger died late September or early October.

3. As for why its ten years ago instead of eleven or twelve is because Shanks and crew had been visiting for about a year before manga start. This means that Shanks and Luffy first meet when Luffy is six or just newly seven and Shanks leaves after Ace turns ten but before Luffy turns eight. Math, I hate you. Why couldn't I do this in chronological order so I don't have to worry about math? I blame the muse.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Kids are hard to write...warning fem!Harry. It will be explained in time. If anyone is wondering about my other stories, look at my profile. I state that I will never post the next chapter of a story until I'm "happy" with it. I am however considering it with my Naruto stories...

**10/28/2012 Edit:** The second chapter to be revised. I have so many other things that I should be doing -like research papers, studying and sleep.

* * *

Chapter 2: The Daughter

"Aki-chan! There's a genuine pirate in the bar! You have to see!" Shanks heard from outside. It sounded like a little boy.

"Luffy! Stop dragging me! The pirate will still be there!" Makino heard her daughter protest from outside the doors. Experience had taught her how to decipher what she was saying from a distance. This shouting match started three minutes after she had awakened Shanks. There was no reason for him to appear like he had passed out after a shot of whiskey after all. Makino knew from over a decade ago that he wasn't that much of a lightweight. Then again, 'Akagami' Shanks still appeared a little shocky from the news that he had a daughter that was nearly a decade old but he had clearly heard Luffy and his daughter. Then again, Luffy didn't know the meaning of the word 'quiet' and could be heard across town quite clearly.

"Why-?" He eventually managed to croak out.

"Didn't you know before now? You didn't visit earlier so I couldn't tell you and I had no reliable way of sending you that particular notice. I had and still have a business to run and a little girl to give birth to and then look after so I couldn't hunt you down myself. I also didn't want any rumors getting out, which axed the idea of sending a messenger or a message after you. Letters can be intercepted and messengers can die. That's not even taking to account for the time you were out and about in the Grand Line. Don't you remember what happened to the world when it came to the rumor of your Gold Roger's kid? It's not like you're not pretty infamous yourself too." Makino was proud of his strength but was bitter about what it meant for her and her girl. She'd rather not have to mislead the entire town -again.

The pirate seemed to understand, a little slow on the uptake but he was still getting used to the fact that he was a father. Being bludgeoned with what that meant and the implications on top of that? He saw her point. Makino thought she might be a bit over protective, but it was better alive than not.

"Those purges... Speaking of those, she was missed in those purges?" Shanks asked her. Her former-lover wasn't that slow after all. His eyes clearly asked how was she also missed? She didn't know exactly how bad they were in certain parts of the world, but she knew that South Blue was hit harder by them than any other parts of the world. East Blue scored second in the purges as the Pirate King was born in East Blue.

"Got that right, Captain, but this is East Blue and those were focused in South Blue. Beyond that, the Vice-Admiral that's from here was persuaded to look the other way if I would do him a favor. The favor is looking after his grandkids when he's not here."

"Pretty old guy then." Shanks replied as he drank another few fingers worth of whiskey. Makino wondered if she could time it just right to make him sputter. Then she decided that it would be a waste of good alcohol.

"Piiiirrrrraaaaate!" Luffy yelled from outside. Makino judged him to about two streets away.

"Luffy! Slow down!" The growl that followed told Makino that she had another minute to spare.

"He hasn't really changed all that much from when he was young according to those that have been around longer than me." She propped on the bar's counter, head tilted on her left hand and looking attentive. This also had the benefit of showing off most of her figure and looking more attractive thanks to the difference in height between her and the counter. Having worked in the bar for all of her life -and despite most of her regular patrons being married or widowed if they were old enough- she knew how to distract men. Fuusha might be a small place, but it did see enough visitors for her to learn how to play that game. A sly smile crossed her lips as she delivered the information to her former lover. "He's known as a Hero after all. He did corner the Pirate King, many times after all."

Shanks flinched when he realized who she was referring to with a mounting sense of horror and incomprehension. Monkey D. Garp was from this little peaceful place? Shanks tried to picture Garp the Fist growing up in what he had seen of the town and couldn't. It was an impossible image. Sort of like the image of Garp married and with kids. At least a kid so he could have a grandkid. That picture didn't work out either. It was like the idea of the sun rising in the south. Incomprehensible. Then again, it could be because he had been on the other side of those infamous fists far too often -even if he wasn't being aimed at in particular with those thrown cannonballs. Hell, he remember the one time that Garp swam after them and boarded the ship. His Captain eventually tossed him overboard but not before those two fighting had damaged the ship some more. There was more than one reason that Roger had commissioned the Oro Jackson out of Adam Wood. Several reasons had names like Whitebeard and Shiki but Garp was at the top of that list and for obvious reasons. That man was insane. His family was likely to be equally insane as those sorts of things ran in families didn't they?

"So it's worked out well then?" Shanks managed to choke out, sounding far more confident than what he was. Today was not his day as today was a day that his usual confidence had deserted him. He figured that it eloped with his eloquence or so it seemed. He was usually far more charismatic than this. Then again it honestly seemed like she was purposefully keeping him off balance... He toyed with the idea of a set up to catch him so that she could protect his daughter from official prosecution but Garp wasn't the sort of man who'd do that. Sengoku would but not Garp.

"Luffy! Damnit! Watch for the door!" Shanks watched as a boy who Shanks thought was younger than eight, mistimed his running leap through the swinging doors of bar causing him to bang his head on the doorway.

"Luffy, there are reasons I told you to slow down. This is one of them." Shanks heard his daughter say as he got his first look at her. It sounded like she was more than a little annoyed at the younger boy for being dragged across town. A certain tone in her voice lent the impression that she'd be absolutely terrifying -like Benn could be when he chose to- when she was older.

His first impression of her appearance was of a small female him in a dress with purple eyes with messy red bangs. She was adorably cute in a way that defied description -but that could just be his fatherly pride kicking in late. With that hair coloring she was undeniable his child. She was contrasting match of contradiction in her dress though. The innocent, frilly, knee-length white dress contrasted the black and blue striped stockings underneath it and the boots she was wearing. She had a well-worn light blue sash tied around her waist though which was something that Shanks approved of. The sash could be purely decorative or could hold weapons for a pirate. The way she had it tied allowed her to take it off and use it as a make shift rope, as it had clearly done so before from what he could tell since it was scruffy and a little frayed but well taken care of nonetheless. Around her arm was a light blue bandanna which she probably used to keep her hair out of the way when she was working. Overall, she looked like a miniature pirate in the making. Shanks felt a grin form on his face.

"Owie." The other kid, now known as Luffy, said. He straightened himself up from where the doorway had laid him out, even as his eyes got teary. Luffy started sniffling. Shanks got the feeling of impending doom that this 'Luffy' was Garp's grandson and that he was about to start bawling big fat crocodile tears. Shanks was only grateful that he wasn't like his Grandpa -yet. Garp would have busted down if not plain demolished the doorway.

"Deary, why don't you go get him some ice to put on that lump of his." He heard the lady who he had knocked up nearly a decade ago suggest to his daughter.

"Luffy's fine, mom. He only hit his head." Shanks heard the young red head reply. It was a comment that was more than slightly cruel in delivery but the words rang true. Shanks couldn't resist.

"Only hit his head? Dahahaha!" That line! It was such a classic! How many times had Rayleigh used that against him and Buggy when he had knocked their heads together because they were arguing?

"See? He gets it! Dahaha!" She joined in with him.

"Hotaru!" Her mother admonished.

His daughter stopped laughing and gave a glare back. He stopped laughing to watch what was going on. That they had the same laugh was just sort of ...awkward and strange. Not bad, but not what he was expecting -not that he had even known he had an idea somewhere of what he was expecting of a kid of his before meeting her anyway. He guessed that if he had ever survived long enough to settle down then that was when he'd have a kid, or at least be more of a part of raising him or her. It would cut down on the awkwardness, he supposed or he'd get used to it. Kids while cute weren't all that fun until they were able to toddle and talk -they usually just made messes until then and those messes got bigger as they got older too. Hmm, by that line of thought, he had never grown up. He wondered what Benn would say about it before he let his thoughts wander back to his daughter -her mother had called her Hotaru.

"Just wait a minute Luffy and I'll have the ice." His daughter's mother said as she bustled off.

Briefly, Shanks wondered how his daughter's name was spelled and if this was a nickname or if it truly was 'firefly.' Shanks would bet that it was a nickname and not very well liked judging by the glare. It was an impressive glare from a girl not even ten if he did his figures right. It's been about ten years and minus nine months means she's nearly ten. Math like that wasn't something that he practiced all that often.

"Captain." Shanks recognized that tone of voice from his first mate. Benn Beckman was not amused. That tone of voice was the 'explain this situation to me before I give into the urge to strangle you,' tone that brooked no nonsense. It was only slightly more dangerous than the tone that said, 'explain this mess before I club you to death with my rifle.' Why was his first mate so scary and strict? Giving that question up as Benn being Benn he decided to try and decipher exactly what he was asking about. So he turned around to face his first mate. Benn was wearing his scary face.

Shanks followed Benn's line of sight to his daughter. That made it obvious. The girl was clearly his daughter after all. She looked and even laughed like him and Benn was close enough to hear that. Surprisingly, she even sized up Beckman like he did his opponents. She also gave no indication of her thoughts and conclusions about him from her face or body language beyond the tenseness of her muscles which loosened as she dragged the Luffy boy to his feet -behind her and slightly to the side so he also had a clear view around her arm so he could dodge as well, the elder redhead noted. Given that Garp was Luffy's grandpa, it made sense that Garp had trained the both of them somewhat.

"What Benn? It can wait until later, after we drink and make merry." Shanks said in his usual way. It didn't break the tension as much as make it awkward and flat. Yeah, his charisma had obviously left him today as well. Was it a conspiracy on their part? To leave him pathetic today? They really needed to stop recruiting before he was pathetic enough to try and drown the day's sorrows away.

Shanks watched as Benn pulled out a cigarette and lit it which didn't dispel the tension at all. His daughter noticed Benn's speed as well with those actions. She moved a teary Luffy further behind her and closer to the wall and all without turning her back or taking her violet gaze off of his first mate. She had good instincts which she probably got from him and also a good head on her shoulders which would be her mother's influence.

Shanks watched his first mate closely for what he thought about her.

Benn shrugged.

"If you say so, Captain." Benn set himself up on the bar stool next to his Captain like a cat that ate the mail-gull. It was something you didn't want happening to you, but was amusing anyway. What was he so amused about? This needed further observation.

Shanks watched as Benn poured himself a single shot, drank it down, then give him this smug little smirk. It was utterly unfair that Benn had used his glass and whiskey before he led himself back to the ship. "I'll give you an hour for a get-together and then I want that explanation."

Ah, so he wasn't judging but he could guess. The whiskey had only made it slightly obvious, 'cause wasn't whiskey the great fortifier before unexpected or bad news? Not like sake that was for celebration with friends or even like rum. That and he knew that Shanks wanted to go this this place for a while if not the reason why.

"That's for later. You should drink a bit more and relax! You're far too tense Benny! You'll go gray before you know it!" Shanks grinned as he teased his first mate.

Benn raised an eyebrow that said far more in that one gesture than ten minutes would have otherwise while logically pokeing logic shaped holes in his arguments that weren't even spoken aloud. Shanks relented to the force of Benn's logic and grasp of threatening silent body language. It so didn't help that Benn was a whole head taller than he was.

"All right, you sourpuss. After you're finished with the ship's errands bring the crew in and I'll buy a round for them."

"Will do, Captain Shanks." Benn replied with a cocky salute to his Captain. Benn was so going to pay for that. Maybe he'd steal his smokes again? Nah. That was getting too predictable actually... He'd have to think of a new idea later. Maybe he could get Yassop to help him out. He was good with stuff like that.

Deciding on changing the atmosphere the bar, Shanks gave a smile in the direction of the two children. "So what are you two called again?"

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! I'm going to be a pirate!" The boy introduced himself as and stepping out from behind his daughter. That kid was adorable, but becoming a pirate with a Vice-Admiral -much less Garp!- as a grandparent? Shanks wished the kid luck and lots of it.

"Learn to swim first, crybaby." The younger redhead teased in a manner similar to his own. To stop the impending argument Shanks decided to intervene.

"So, if he's an Anchor then you'd be Hotaru? I thought I heard you be called that by the lovely lady that mans the bar." Shanks asked his daughter. Luffy first puffed up in anger at his new nickname but then he paled beside her when he mentioned the name his daughter was called by her mother.

"Only Mom is allowed to call me that. My name is Akiyaki." She replied in a tone that he had only heard angry women use -right before they lost control over their temper. While he doubted that she could hurt him, it wouldn't be fair to needlessly antagonize her now when he had only known that she had existed for less than half an hour. Later and once he had gotten to know her, was a whole different story.

"Ah, well, didn't know." Shanks again wondered how her name was spelled of all things. Was it spelled with the characters for Autumn and burning or was her name spelled differently?

"So what is that you plan to do when you're older?" Shanks watched as she stiffened slightly. So that confirmed that she knew who he was to her and that she was a little shy -around him at least. At least he was spared that awkward conversation involving how she was conceived, born and all.

"For a while, I thought about being a Marine," She drawled out the words and information on purpose -like her mother did earlier. He wondered what other traits she had come by honestly and which she had picked up from life. Shanks nearly had a heart attack over what she had said regardless. A pirate's daughter in the marines? It must have shown as she smirked. "I decided against it. I don't like the uniform, I'd have to follow stupid orders and probably have crazy superiors. Instead, I'm going to see and explore the world!" She declared. He decided that she was nervous but truthful. She had left out some things but then again she was clearly a clever girl. It was time to put her at ease, then.

"Well, not everyone knows what they're going to do in life, but for all the freedoms of the sea there is also danger all around as well. To pay for those freedoms that pirates so often enjoy takes sacrifice and acceptance. Most pirates often have no family ties because of other pirates or the Marines would go after their family. If they do, then they're worth the respect of that particular sacrifice. Due to the nature of pirates like me always seeing and doing new things it's hard to get a message to them. If the pirate gets famous then it gets harder, as some of the more zealous Marines would want to know as well and use them to force the pirate to come to justice." Shanks said, as a roundabout apology. It wasn't an excuse, but fact. He still felt like an utter failure as a father -even if he had only known about her for less than an hour.

His daughter -clever girl that she was- seemed to be able to understand the roundabout apology judging by the slight nod of her head before she gave a grin similar to his own. It was good to know that she understood what he meant. She was far more mature than he was at that age, but girls grew up faster than guys didn't they? So Shanks decided that it wasn't that surprising and just decided to have a father-daughter bonding/understanding for the moment.

Their glorious mutual understanding/bonding moment didn't last long before it was interrupted by Garp's grand kid. Where was her mother with to distract that brat? Shanks thought instantly irritated by him. As he wasn't the kind of guy who beat up little kids, he would have to get back in other ways -and see if he avoid Garp while doing so.

"But you're a pirate! I'm strong! Take me on your crew!"

"Its ten years too early for that, Anchor!" Shanks replied to Garp's bratty grand kid. Teasing worked best when dealing with brats didn't it?

"Could you really do anything but be dead weight Anchor?" His daughter questioned in a way that would be called catty if she were older as she walked behind the bar to obtain two glasses with practiced ease.

"I can fight!" The kid who Shanks had decided to permanently call Anchor replied. Such a nickname was the perfect revenge -since he doubted that whenever he'd stroll back into this place that he'd be left alone. The kid seemed a lot like he did at that age, so he knew how bratty he could expect the child to be and how best to curb that trait to shape him into a fine man.

"Have some juice, Luffy." Akiyaki said, sliding him the glass down the bar while partaking her own juice from her own spot behind the bar. Shanks didn't know that this bar had one of those counters, cause it didn't feel like it was one of those. He was pirate who loved to drink so of course he'd know the difference.

"Oh, thank you." Luffy replied before he drank it down.

"See! Ten years too soon. You're just a little kid still! Dahahaha!" Shanks said.

"But she's drinking juice too!"

"I poured it for myself. Something you're not allowed to do unless you want to scrub the floor again when you make a mess. Besides, I'm not the idiot that wants to go out to sea at six and a half who also can't swim. Stupid anchor."

"Makino! They're being mean!" Luffy yelled.

"Hotaru, be nice or you'll be scrubbing dishes for all of the Captain's men." Makino replied while placing the baggy of ice on Luffy's head. What was that ice baggy for again? It took him a minute to realize that Luffy still had that bump on his head from running into the bar's door earlier. How had he managed to forget about that? Definitely a conspiracy against him today.

"Fine." Shanks' daughter replied.

"So why aren't you scolding him?" Luffy demanded while pointing at Shanks.

"I can't claim to have that much sway over such a man. He's a pirate after all. A pirate's first love is that of the sea and freedom." Makino stated. Both she and Shanks knew she had quite a bit of sway over him, but mostly it was his own curiosity about his own daughter that had him listening and staying.

"That's not to say he can't have other loves as equally if not more dear that the love for the sea or can't find something unknown to him that would captivate him so." Shanks replied. It looked like his eloquence and charisma had returned -at least for the moment. He watched as Makino smiled, while his daughter blinked to some unspoken question and relaxed a fraction more.

So his daughter came by that cleverness and cunning and possible talent for subterfuge naturally from_ both _sides. He wouldn't have noticed it if he wasn't looking for it. It made him glad that he didn't have to deal with that cleverness and talent by himself. He never knew how astute Makino was as they had only been together for less than twenty-four hours. About two thirds of that time was spent in his rented hotel bed asleep or not, less than a fourth on the dinner and deals made and a rest of the remaining time on drinks which he loved and building up the courage to take an infatuated maiden to bed. Thanks to the alcohol, he managed to seduce and pleasure her well enough that she wanted more and even thanked him in such a remarkable way. That wasn't a lot of time to learn about someone beyond the physical and she had an advantage over him as he was a well-known pirate. However knowing what someone did only presented so much of an advantage as the facts were quite often distorted and the paper could only guess on the reasons for any actions taken.

"So! Captain, tell us some stories of your adventures!" Luffy asked. He looked to the woman that he had loved and left for permission that he noticed that she granted while he stole a glance at his daughter.

Being given his daughter's hopeful smile was honestly the best plea he had ever received in life. He regaled the two of the with adventure stories from when he was first starting out as a pirate, even if he never named names beyond his own and a few of his less famous former crew-mates. It was only later when his crew came in did Shanks remembered that he had to explain the circumstances to Benn.

He decided that his charisma and eloquence had only come back long enough to distract him and steal his luck. Explaining this to Benn was not something he was looking forward to -nor to the rest of the crew. He would have to explain it too as the rest of the crew would figure it out soon -not that it was that large of a secret once given the pieces of the puzzle were right in front of them. He just wasn't looking forward to it. That bottle of whiskey was looking mighty attractive at the moment. He doubted that he'd be able to drown himself in it literally.

* * *

A/N; Keeping the chapters short seems to be working well enough...

By the way, isn't Shanks the sexiest almost 40 year old pirate you've ever seen? However, at the moment he's only 27 in this story. Still sexy.

**10/23/2012 Edit**: Not much of a change in this chapter. A bit more detail, some of Makino's view (she doesn't know that Gold Roger was actually Gol D. Roger and some other things), a few minor fixes and Shanks' thoughts going off on tangents. He just seems like the kind of guy that would personify abstract things like luck, charisma, eloquence and confidence.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N; We're now onto more recognizable One Piece and more hints about HP and what the hell happened there. That story won't be told in full until we get into how and why. More hints will be given in later chapters, but probably won't be spelled out in plain language until like chapter fifty. No promises there...

Also every weapon mentioned is of Japanese or Chinese origin. Go wiki them if you're not familiar with them. Aki knows what she wants. Just so everyone knows Aki will have some awesome weapons that you would and won't expect.

To spare unnecessary confusion this chapter spans a year. As such, it is long.

**10/29/2012 Edit: **Yeah this chapter covers a lot. Aki turns ten, Luffy turn seven and Aki will be eleven by the time Ace shows up. Changed the author's note a bit, added in a few more conversations. Fixed my math oops.

* * *

Chapter 3: Snippets of Conversations

Akiyaki had decided that Shanks made a good father six months after he first pulled up with his crew. He had left several times but had returned within a week or a month. That his leaving tended to coincide with when Monkey D. Garp was showing up was no mistake. While they never called each other Daddy or beloved daughter in public -just about everyone who had spent time with them both knew that he was her father. They were too similar to each other for them not to be. Beyond the superficial similarities was their overwhelming cheerfulness, the both of them being left-handed, having similar preferences for food, being overly friendly at times, and even several other unconscious habits proclaimed them as related to anyone who wasn't blind, oblivious and over the age of seven that had seen them together. That is if they hadn't bought in to some major misdirection done by her mother before she was born. Aki decided that she really didn't mind misleading them either. She had ears and she came by a number of her talents honestly -such as stealth.

The closeness of their relationship was proven by the fact that Akiyaki eventually let Shanks call her Hotaru (firefly) like her mom did dispite knowing what her name was and how to spell it properly. Her name was commonly spelled by everyone else with the characters that meant autumn (Aki) night or cool evening (ya) bug (ki). The last character could also be read as temper instead of bug and refer to an evening storm in fall. Those were nasty. The proper way of spelling her name was autumn (Aki) night or cool evening (ya) star (ki). The last character could also be read as god of literature. It would be some time and one avalanche of books before Shanks realized how accurate that particular spelling of her name was after he was informed of that.

After the initial awkwardness had passed of their introduction and especially after when Shanks had gotten rid of his teasing crew members and little worshiper Luffy to either drink and mind their own business or sleep respectively; they had a serious and frank discussion in Makino's backroom. This was under the first serious conversation they had had as just father and daughter even if it was under the premises of her father being a gentleman and picking the barrel of alcohol up for her while she pointed it out since Makino was busy with the bar and serving his crew.

The first of these conversations between Shanks and his daughter was brutally honest, as her father was clearly out of his depth.

"So you do know that, I recently didn't know you existed." He admitted bluntly.

"Ten years is a long time." She replied back. She had long made peace with that fact. She knew that now that he knew, he cared. He hadn't forgotten about her mother, or died. He didn't hate her either, which she had sort of worried about.

"True. You're nine still, right?" She had nodded yes to that. Shanks looked less vibrant and more serious. He looked not like his wanted posters but closer to them than her mother would want in her bar. "All those missed moments and events; I think I owe you quite a bit of time for that."

She raised her eyebrow up. Shanks noted that she, like Benn and what seemed like all women could communicate entire arguments with a single gesture. "So why are we wasting time being serious and doing nothing but talking?" Shanks found himself nodding in agreement to that point. "I want to see you use those swords that I've read about."

"Read about?" He asked curiously.

"Mom has a scrapbook filled with every mention of you that she can find." His daughter replied bluntly. Shanks felt a moment of panic. How much did she know? Better yet, how much was accurate? "Now, this one is the one that was ordered so pick it up and bring it out before your crew goes thirsty."

"As you say so, little Missy."

* * *

An explanation given much later that night or early the next day to Benn was brief. Partly because it was a way to get it over with and so that he could baby his head from the night's earlier revelry.

"I met her some time after Roger told us to scatter, but before he got caught. I was wandering around an island nearby here and had she run into me. Being a gentleman and with nothing better to do, I escorted her around the town that day. She had just formally inherited the bar and was working out the contracts with the merchants that ship the alcohol. After business was done, it led to dinner and drinks which led to me bed with her and I, for the night." Then with a happy but seriously drunken grin, Shanks continued. "We had some more fun that morning and she gave the invite to see her sometime later. I didn't know about her –my daughter- until I saw her –Makino- again." Shanks eventually stuttered out, as if he had realized something. "She was born during the purges that the government had at that time. By that time, I was in the Grand Line and out of contact. That's why such a thing got sprung on me. Damn, I need more to drink."

Benn obliged by opening another bottle, which was something against his usual policy of dealing with things like his captain's drinking habits and hangovers. "Congratulations. It's a girl."

Shanks laughed and drank with his first mate.

* * *

The second in the series of such conversation between parent and child occurred the night before he left for the first time, when the both of them were ordered by Makino to put Luffy to bed. Luffy had his own little cot set up in the bar for his own use when it wasn't advisable to send him home, as it was that late.

"Luffy is adorable isn't he?" Shanks heard his daughter say. Remembering his daughter had a way of picking up subtleties, he had to reply to some question that wasn't asked.

"Yeah, sweet kid. Crazy too. Reminds me of myself when I was younger in some ways."

"So your grandfather was a Hero of the Marines?" She asked bluntly. Just to see the expression on her father's face or so Shanks supposed. Catching him off guard and teasing Luffy was her joy. Shanks briefly had to wonder if he caused similar feelings of shock and incredulity akin to a heart attack to his first mate. He would have to ask.

"No. Not that." He replied after calming himself down again from the moment of sheer and utter panic that her words caused. He can't believe that he had forgotten about that particular connection about the name of Monkey D. "Well, maybe a bit similar. I was speaking of the easy to anger, prone to being teased, the obliviousness, and the pure belief that I could do anything."

"Ah, so what were your parents and their parents like?" Shanks noticed that she didn't refer to them as Grandpa or Grandma. She might know that Shanks was her father, but that doesn't mean that she had accepted him as her dad. Seems he still had some work to do.

(1)"Honorable and good describes grandfather the best. Memaw was far more wild, but driven. He was from this little island country in the Grand Line. I get the red hair from him, although his was darker. She was a fierce woman with pale blond hair. His family was quite well-known and with a good reputation. When he was older, he disowned himself from the family, giving up the name in protest of the Kingdom's current rules and laws. The last bit was thanks to my mother's doing. You know the place I'm from in West Blue right? She's a native there. Well, before my she got her claws into him, he was a devoted patriot and still is technically. She opened up his eyes and mind to the world at large. Sometimes quite forcefully, judging by the stories she told of her courtship of him. He had to choose between duty and love, and because of that love he had been blessed with he saw that he was not doing his duties as he should to a place that he loved because of the current laws in place which he couldn't change. You could say he was something of a revolutionary, although a bit too adhering to social order to truly carry it out."

"So your grandmother was a pirate?" She asked.

"Naw. She's a merchant, if only by a slim technicality, since she never raised the flag. She inherited her father's ship and sake business. I would be running that, if I wasn't a pirate, but I didn't have any interest in it. If any pirates did attack her then she fought back, won and made more profit by taking and hiding a portion of their loot and then turning in those with bounties if the pirates had them and a portion of their less valuable loot. She's something of an upstanding citizen 'cause of that. Place views her like you guys do Garp, I think. Grandfather is viewed as the saner of them and he was old tradition superstitious at that time when they met. You know the whole, women on ship being bad luck, and all that rot. The courtship was tumultuous at best and hilarious at worst."

"They're both still around then?"

"Yeah, the only way he is going to die is from boredom for at least a decade more. He was a skilled swordsman, and if he was in his prime could probably beat me bloody without much effort. She has long since shifted off the majority of the busy and boring work to one of her and mine relatives who actually likes the busywork -which is why I left. She still runs her ship and plans to do so until she can't. Guess I'll have to tell her about you the next time I visit home then?"

"You might want to marry my Mom first, if I'm imagining what they're like is right."

"Yeah, might need to do that. He might be old, but he got old for a reason."

"So tell me more about them!" She demanded, excited to be spending time with her father and learning about her family even if Shanks knew that she still hadn't considered him her dad.

* * *

It was a conversation with Yassop that cleared his confusion and hurt of not being acknowledged as a father or dad –even if she had accepted the idea of family beyond her mother's. It had taken a while for Shanks to spot the signs it, but Makino had some mermaid blood in her. A mermaid's dislike of meat proved true for both Makino and his daughter but he had no idea about the other talents and traits that might have been passed on or to what extent.

"A dad's an important person to any kid. Not nearly as important as the mom since she's the one that does the raising of and the act of actually having the kid and breaks your hand doing it too." The sniper chuckled in fond remembrance.

Shanks laughed at that bit, but turned serious again. Yassop frowned at his Captain and it deepened with his Captain's words. "I know that I was absent from her life but-?"

"Eh, she just has to adjust to how you fit into her life. It's why I don't visit my boy. I'd have to intrude and then leave him again. It would be nice, but the bitter-sweet joy of parenthood is just not for me. The sea has seduced me away after all and a half-hearted effort is worse than not. Once my boy is a man, I'll meet him as a man –on the sea. I know I will. Your girl will grow up even if you stay here or go, Captain. She'll become more beautiful and stronger than she is now. When the time comes she'll be an adult and we'll be equal in our freedom and she'll proclaim it to the world that you're her dad and she'll be proud of her pirate heritage! Until that time just give her time and love!"

Shanks understood what Yassop was saying. Somehow even with Benn's formidable IQ, Yassop was the wisest on ship -when he wasn't being an idiot. Now if only he had half of Yassop's faith in such things.

* * *

The third serious conversation between the father and daughter occurred about two months after her father had first pulled up to Dawn Island. It seemed that she had mistimed the amount of time he would be gone to the amount of time she needed to get what she needed and wanted from Goa. Then again he wouldn't have found out what she wanted for a birthday present.

The location of the conversation could have been better as her room was only a slight mess, if somewhat plain. She had very few things that marked it as belonging to a girl. The purple sheets with silver stars on her bed and the few stuffed animals that decorated the top of her overly full bookshelf marked it as belonging to a girl. The Sea King stuffed animal was the only one on her bed. The small room also contained a dresser, desk and chair. It was a small room to begin with, but it became easily crowded with books, notes and other typical clutter. She was just thankful that she had recently cleared out all the romance novels from her room as they had a slight tendency to cause an avalanche of books. They were addicting even if they were trash most of the time.

Because of the time Shanks and crew had sailed in at, most everyone on ship was too tired to care about getting alcohol or still asleep. She however had had her bedroom light on, and was sorting her most recent haul from Goa. Shanks had noticed the light on from the ship and had walked himself over to the house next to the bar and let himself in. He had been a pirate for about half of his life by now so he knew how to break in -even if he didn't have to. He was allowed to as he had recently made a mostly honest woman out of her mother, but he hadn't seen her room before as it had been a complete and utter helpless mess and she had kept everyone out. She would have known if anyone had gone in as the floorboards would have sifted the stacks of books enough to fall over if anyone other than her had gone in. As it stood, Aki noticed that her father was openly amazed at all the books and clutter she had collected on various topics that covered just about everything from culture of specific kingdoms, to navigation, books on the various flora and their properties and the habits of the fauna that inhabited the world, history, basic engineering, cooking and basic medicine. She had everything a person would need to know to make their way in the world including the maps of the four Blues as wall decorations. Shanks smirked when he noticed his bounty poster pinned next to the map of West Blue. It was one of his most recent bounty posters, but it seemed that it was pinned up over his older posters.

"You're truly serious about going out and seeing the world aren't you?" He eventually asked.

"Yup. I've been preparing for this for a while. I'll have to continue to do so for a while more. Then I'll see all there is to see and do everything I judge worth doing-"

"So I can see." He replied shakily. "It's too bad, about what happened to Ohara. You would have been right at home there." Shanks replied with his head bowed down in respect for the dead scholars. He scanned the room again, and was obviously looking for something. "You don't have much when it comes to defending yourself though."

Akiyaki sat up on her bed and pointed a little gun at him. That was when she knew that she surprised her father next when it came to her talent of concealing weapons. The worn light blue sash that she was never seen without was multipurpose. It concealed a small snub nosed revolver and the ammo for it. It only took her a second and a half of smooth movement to get the small gun out of the sash, flick the safety off before flicking it back on and use the short barrel to flick off her father's hat. The room was small and crowded that way. Shanks felt that brief flicker of panic again before he squashed it down. He knew that she knew how and when to use it. He'd seen her shoot before. He and his daughter had some odd father-daughter bonding habits. Teaching her how to shoot was one of them. That was before Yassop butted in and decided to help her with her technique before any bad habits set in.

"I don't claim to be an expert with guns, but since the barrel is so short wouldn't it make that little thing inaccurate at longer ranges?"

"It is. I haven't gotten around to replacing it with something better. Need to find a decent gunsmith first." She replied, resetting the safety and concealing it once more. Shanks at least knew that she knew how to handle it, thanks to prior practice with his crew. He didn't think she had the nerve to actually use it yet -especially on a person, but she had gotten the 'weapon talk' from the crew.

"Better than nothing I guess. Your mom, know about that?"

"Yup. She has for a while. It was the only one that felt right when I went looking some time ago." The daughter of Shanks replied. Shanks then had to wonder exactly how much free rein did his daughter have? It wasn't his place to question how Makino had raised her as she had turned out to be reasonably fine without him and he had been gone for most of her life.

"You can already tell what weapons you can work with then?" Her father asked. She raised an eyebrow back. Ah, so it's like that then. He knew how good she was with some weapons as his crew liked to show off at times and she could talk them into teaching her a few things. They had taught her some tricks and tips about various weapons. Luffy just watched amazed about the crew and his pseudo big-sis.

Frankly, so was he. Some weapons she managed to take to almost instantly, but wasn't able to learn anything from the crew about. A good example was the trident that they had won off of a fishman some time ago. She just needed some height and more practice for fine-tuning with it and she'd be better than most who ever touched a pole arm ever had a hope to be. Other weapons she was a complete neophyte with like Yassop's slingshot. She had gotten better with it, but she hadn't reached the level beyond competent enough, but not good. She was surprisingly enough good with a bow, but currently lacked the muscle strength to be truly great at it since her natural inclination there was towards crossbows, long recurve bows that were larger than she was and short bows in that order. Some weapons she wasn't allowed to use or try like Benn's rifle. That rifle had a hard enough kick to it that it could knock back anyone who wasn't firmly planted on the ground. A few others she was a natural with, as within three practice shots of Yassop's pistol she had adjusted to the kick and after a few more practice shots that got ever closer to the center until the bullets hit center. Every shot after that went through the same hole in the target, until they increased the distance and she had to adjust to it again. She wasn't in Yassop's league yet, but it was only a matter of time and finding the right gun for her at a longer range.

"That's real good. Found a decent sword yet?"

So what if it wasn't the typical father and daughter talks. Typically pirates weren't parents and for good reason. Those kids at worst would have short, bloody lives as they could and would be used against their parents. Many places also don't like pirates however friendly and nice they might be. Being a pirates' kid also had some repercussions even in a tight-knit but open-minded community like Foosha village as Shanks had found out since she never quite fit in with the village children. Part of that could have been because she was born out of wedlock though or for her intelligent and mature ways.

"No, and it is frustrating." She complained. "I don't like katana. That could be because I don't have a feel for them, but if I find a good long sword I know that it is not going to be of average make or typical size. I can already feel that."

"Oh?" She could tell that she had his attention now.

"Short swords are fine to work with now, but not later, since I'll grow up in a few more years and that'll change a lot and I'd have to get a larger pair." She pouted. It was cute. "Then there is a difference in what I can feel for what will work for bladed weapons. I can find a larger blade later, but I can and need to work with a shorter blade weapon now -if only for practice."

"So why don't you like Katana?"

"The typical Katana just feels clumsy to me, but that could be because I'm soon to be ten and short. The ones that were scaled down were even worse. They had messed up on the balance on those. I haven't worked with a nodachi before but that is more of a height and rarity issue than weight issue, I think."

"I prefer a straighter blade myself. What about a Tsurugi?"

"It felt very wrong, and is uncommon -here. Too long also, for a short blade weapon which is what I want. It's too top heavy too. I'm a short range speed and defensive fighter too so it's insane to have a double edged sword unless I know that I'm physically stronger than my opponent."

"A chokuto or ninjato? I preferred those when I was with my Captain."

"Much better but not right, yet. I could work with them but I know they're not the best fit...I think that they're too long for me at the moment. I don't like leaving my hands open and unguarded that way either."

"A rapier then?" Shanks asked. An eyebrow was raised in response. The silence dragged on for several moments. Shanks could see her restrain herself from listing exactly why a rapier wouldn't work for her.

"Not sturdy enough." She finally proclaimed.

"Hm...a hachiwari might work then."

"It was a good try, but wasn't worth the price or effort since it still wasn't right."

"A bladed Jutte since they're so similar then?"

"Close but not it."

"Tonfa?"

"Needs an edge and still not it."

"Modified Tekko?"

"Too crass if typically modified and they're not shaped like I want, but I'm pretty sure that's what I'll end up having to do or something like that."

"So what's the wish list then?"

"Customized handheld weapons. I want a punch to hurt, and also cut them up even if they dodge to the side so some attached blade on the side. Something like a Suntetsu, but better than just small stabs and pokes. Maybe like a yawara at the interior. Still I want to be able to adjust my grip for different angles so maybe not like a Suntetsu and more of knuckles. Still have to be sturdy enough that I could use them to stop my moment and not break. Remember how I was able knock out Yasoop while messing around with the trident? I want to be able to do that and not worry about the blades breaking." Akiyaki complained as she blew up her bangs.

"Sounds like modified Hook swords to me."

"If they had Deer Horn knives or wheels as guards and weren't straight. I want the blade at an angle so that I can still have full rotation of my wrist but the blade is long enough to reach halfway to my elbow."

"At least you've got it thought out right? That's better than most."

"That's on top of the custom-made gun that I plan on getting one day."

"I thought that the little revolver felt right though?" He asked confused but serious. Weapons were serious business.

"It does, but I know it doesn't have the strength or piercing power needed at long range or able to go through scales once out of a specific range. It's a snub-nosed revolver, not a rifle."

"So why a custom gun and not a rifle like Benn's?"

"I've been tinkering around with some ideas of being able to shoot faster, and possibly further once I figure it out. Flintlocks when wet don't work as well even if that's been improving lately, but even Flintlocks are an improvement over Matchlocks even if they haven't got the capacity the same yet. Cartridges improve reloading time but it could still be improved further once I figure out how. It's frustrating to feel and know exactly what you want and still can't figure out how to make or get it. It's why South Blue is so high up on my 'to visit soon' list. (2)" Sensing the frustration that was boiling up, Shanks latched onto what he considered relevant.

"So the snub-nosed revolver is from South Blue?" He asked.

"I may have borrowed it off of someone who was visiting and forgot to return it before they left." She admitted sheepishly.

"Dahahaha!" Shanks laughed quietly as he knew that Makino was asleep and that conversation was over.

* * *

The next serious conversation was a week after she turned ten and was presented with her much modified short range weapons. The weapons were more of knuckles that were modified to do more slashing damage than brute impact damage as she was a speed fighter. On the sides of the knuckles nearest her smallest finger were affixed to single sided blades that managed to protect her hands. It wasn't exactly what she asked for, but it was serviceable and she would be able to practice with them for the next few years. To get what she truly wanted Shanks told her that she would have to go to Wano or some other place in the Grand Line as they could make it then. Lougetown was okay when it came to making basic weapons, but they weren't the best around. It still wasn't right but it was far closer than anything else she had touched in the short range weaponry beyond the occasional stiletto and throwing knives.

Shanks, his crew and just about everyone who cared to be knowledgeable about fighting and saw her knew that when it can to fighting in long range she was fast and offensive. Her opponent would go down and go down hard as soon as she could make them. In close combat she was primarily a defensive and blindingly fast reactionary fighter with a very well noted tendency to launch crippling or even lethal strikes from odd angles -including from the backs of weapons- thanks to random and gymnastic dodges that had been learned and perfected long ago thanks to Garp dragging her away with Luffy for lessons. She hadn't quite managed to get the Vice-Admiral to believe that she had changed her mind about being a marine before the lessons had even started since Luffy had tried to escape them by substituting her in.

Due to those exhausting and just plain terrible lessons, she had managed to learn to fend for herself in the forest and learning the quickest routes to Goa proper -even with avoiding Grey Terminal. The smell was ghastly. At least she had a regular chance to see Ace then, as she had met him in the jungle then and had helped him take down a beast that would have otherwise gotten away -after several weeks and encounters where they had tried to kill each other. As such, they became something akin to friends or rivals but they weren't truly either. Hell, they didn't even learn each other's names until Garp decided to introduce them one day. Eventually she had met Dadan through Ace, and they had hated each other almost instantly and with a vehemence rarely seen once they laid eyes on and spoke to one another. Dadan and Akiyaki had long since had an unspoken agreement to avoid each other as much as possible. It was as she had explained to Ace that it was a hatred that you had to be female to understand.

"How is it that you're able to afford all the books you go through?" Shanks asked after stepping into her now book filled room, a week after her birthday. He however, wasn't lucky and stepped on the wrong part of the floor. He was promptly half buried under several books.

"Grey Terminal in Goa is a junk heap. It is possible to find some really neat stuff to sell in Edge Town." Akiyaki responded truthfully.

"While that may be true, I don't think that that's the answer that I'm looking for." Shanks replied with a smirk. His daughter responded with a pout, before becoming serious.

"High Town has an excellent library. To use it, you have to be a resident of High Town. I'm not. Most of the books I have are older editions that I bought for cheap off of the librarian and other book lovers. Otherwise they'd go to Grey Terminal, get rained on and ruined. Edge town does have book stores, but depending on where in Edge Town it is, they cater to anything and everything."

"I was actually going to ask why you have so many romance novels around."

"They're addicting. I didn't know that when I first read one. I was seven." She admitted, blushing.

"Dahahahaha! That would have been a fun conversation to listen to."

"Aren't you glad that as a pirate you can skip that particular parental joy of explaining such things?"

"Yep!"

"Shameless, too."

"Aka gami Shanks at your service."

They both burst out laughing at the horrible pun.(3)

* * *

Another serious conversation occurred once Shanks realized that there were very dangerous beasts in the distance between Foosha Village and Goa.

"Does Makino know about you running off to Goa through the mountains and forests? The places filled with all the beasts that should have been living in the Grand Line?"

"She has a list of rules to follow. I don't break them, and she doesn't show the true evil lurking under that pretty face."

They both had a laugh at that. There was a reason beyond love and sense that she listened to her mother and why just about everyone in town did too -including the visiting pirates. Makino could be scary.

"So what happens when you kill one of them?"

"Go to Dadan's, dress it and skin it. A portion of the meat is hers, the skin is mine to tan and sell if it is able to be sold."

"So that at least explains how you have beri but don't borrow it from the Bar, your mother or me."

"I plan on investing some of that beri in earplugs though." Akiyaki replied in a dead serious tone. Shanks felt his heart skip a beat as he paled under his hat. She then smirked and started laughing. It seems like his daughter had the last laugh this time. He joined in the laughter and made a mental note to truly keep her up for a few nights. He was confident enough that he could make Makino forget to stay quiet.

Shanks later found out that he could, but it was far more likely that he'd end up with bruises and bite marks. He ignored his crew's remarks and teasing about his sudden preference for long sleeved shirts with a high collar while those healed.

* * *

"Yassop?"

"Yeah?" The gunner asked his captain's daughter.

"Captain gets buzzed after a certain number of bottles right?"

"Everyone does once they drink enough."

"Mom doesn't. As we're out of the way, a few of our past providers have tried to swindle us with sub-standard product after our old one got killed by pirates so Mom's not above taste testing something of everything we get -and then since it is open and paid for, you can guess what happens then."

"I wonder who would win in a competition between them you mean?"

"Captain would have to pay, since otherwise it would be undercutting profits..."

The next night proved interesting as did the day following. Not that Yassop remembered much of that night past a certain point and only snippets of painful awareness the day after but he did remember the usually sober bartender drink his captain under the table after a long fought battle that depleted the bar of quite a bit.

* * *

A light-hearted conversation occurred a few weeks after Shanks had appeared again. It was a few weeks after Luffy turned seven and he was still clamoring for Shanks to let him join his crew -but he was down and taking a nap. This time however they were joined by Benn as Shanks noticed and finally put to place in his head what was happening.

"So, were my eyes deceiving me or do you, little girl, have a crush on my first mate?" Shanks was in rare form that day as he was fully getting into the teasing spirit.

"This is so unfair." She complained.

"I'm flattered, but I'm sure that you could find someone closer to your own age." Benn said diplomatically. He was older than Shanks after all and was smarter than him. That however didn't mean that he had figured out Shanks or his daughter yet. Since his Captain's grin grew larger, it just meant that Shanks had found another avenue to tease from.

"I say we attack." His Captain's daughter muttered.

"Now, now, Benn, she could decide to be like my grandmother and wear her chosen mate down until he marries her-" She had launched herself the back of Shanks and had managed to knock him over. She quickly took advantage of the surprised pirate and had used her trusty sash to truss him up. Quite expertly, Beckman noted. She must have gotten quite a bit of practice tying Luffy up when he wouldn't behave or to capture him when she decided to torment him.

"Beckman, can I get a little help?" Shanks asked from the ground where he was playing helpless.

"I have other duties to attend to for the ship and the crew." He replied.

"What-? You-! Gah! Hey, stop that!" The yells and protests of his captain became muffled as his daughter took off her bandana and used it as a gag. The gag didn't stop the laughter of Shanks from emerging. Benn didn't know that his Captain was ticklish or if he was just acting and enjoying being a kid.

* * *

A more serious conversation occurred between the Makino, Shanks and their daughter after a particularly bad day after the rest of the crew had gone back to the ship and Luffy went home. It had been nearly a year since Shanks had first shown up. Makino and Aki knew it was just a matter of time before Shanks left again, and for more than a few weeks at a time. It would be years before they would see him again -if ever.

"I still can't believe that he's a rubber man from just eating that fruit." Makino stated.

"It was my fault. I should have had that accursed fruit secured better." Shanks admitted with a depressed sigh. "Now, he won't ever be able to swim. Anyone who lives on a ship, especially a pirate ship should know how to swim. Being a pirate is dangerous enough without the danger of drowning included."

There was a moment of silence after this statement.

"I still can't believe that he took a knife to his face today to prove some abstract ideal." The youngest redhead replied from the cradle of her arms.

"You're pretty tired of today too, aren't you? What did you get up to while we were dealing with bandits?" Shanks asked. She had been coming back from a visit to Ace -where they had tried to kill each other multiple times again when they weren't being friends- and had missed the entire ordeal that began with Luffy stabbing his face to prove his manliness. She had been busy and not just physically fighting everything that tried to eat her or verbally sparring with Dadan again.

"Well, it was that annoying bear again. It tried to eat me so I had to convince it not to. The bear proved highly resistant to persuasion." Makino giggled at that. "Besides, I'm not tired. How did you come to that conclusion and from what evidence and why does that evidence prove or disprove that conclusion?"

"You're a wink away from sleeping where you sit!" Shanks replied cheerfully and then switched to teasing. "You are also thinking deep thoughts that if you were older would require sake to properly contemplate, which is why you have a headache." Shanks teased back.

"The father should not be encouraging the daughter to drink. I'm sure it violates some sort of man code somewhere." Makino stated.

"Oh, is there some sort of man code? How and why does it require boys to cut their flesh? Luffy and Shanks were similar at that age or so he said." Akiyaki replied, her voice thick and lazy with the need for sleep. A few moments were spent in silence before the bartender changed the subject.

"Yes, there is. Luffy confirmed if for me because he said that the Captain wasn't acting like a man." Makino giggled again.

"Now, now, me thinks that I need to get cleaned up. Then it's to bed with me. I'll meet you there shortly, Makino." He gave his lover a quick kiss that promised more. "Night, Hotaru." Shanks said as he was leaving.

"Night, father." Akiyaki replied from the table. Shanks turned back to face her, and was filled with an immense pride. It was probably the first time she had admitted out loud about their blood relation.

* * *

After Shanks had cleaned himself off from the day's grime, he checked in his daughter's room for her. Upon not finding her there, he went back to the bar and found her still propped on the counter, with her eyes open but unblinking. Assuming that she was awake he called out quietly, "Hotaru?"

"Need somethin?" she replied sounding more than half asleep.

"You need to go to sleep in your bed. Not at the bar."

"Already asleep." She mumbled back.

"Oh? I meant sleep in your bed and not at the bar." Shanks was ignored. "This means you have to get up and go."

"Next time... maybe."

"Hotaru-" Shanks said as he placed hand on her shoulder said before he was sent flying into the wall near the swinging doors, knocking over a table and chairs on the way and causing a large amount of noise. "Ouch. That hurt."

"Shanks? What happened?" Makino questioned from outside the bar moments later.

"Hotaru is resisting sleeping in her own bed, is all." Shanks replied as he picked himself off the ground.

"Oh, my! I had thought she had outgrown this!" She declared as she walked into the bar and started placing the table and chairs back in place. When a place gets visited semi-regularly by Garp, things get built that were harder to break.

"Explain the 'this' you were speaking of?" Shanks replied as he placed his hat back on his head. It had fallen off during his impromptu flight.

"The sleepwalking or the sleep talking?" His lover replied back.

"I was thinking more of the sleep fighting explanation would be nice."

"Well, I asked Garp about the third time it had happened. He said that it was just reflexes acting up while she's asleep. It's not the first time she's ever thrown someone into a wall like this. Garp, the strange man he is, thought it was adorable."

"The sleep talking?"

"Only when spoken to."

"The eyes being open then?"

"They are open." Makino declared after a quick examination proved that they were. "That's new."

"So how do you get her into her bed when she's like this?" Shanks asked. He would prefer not to get tossed into the wall again.

"Logic." Makino replied.

"Logic?" Shanks questioned.

"Logic. Hotaru, sleeping at the bar is bad for your back."

"Young yet. No moving."

"Ah, I get it, me thinks. If you don't get up and into your bed, I'll tell Benn that you talk in your sleep."

"No care. Not Ace."

"Then I'll tell Ace." Shanks responded.

"No ever met Ace." Came the sleepy reply.

"Then I'll tell Ace that you're having naughty dreams about him the next time he's in Foosha." Makino replied.

"Dirty. Blackmail. No fair. To bed I goes." She gave a disinterested look to the world and stumbled past them and outside and Shanks watched as she walked inside her house. He blinked and pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. As he didn't wake up and the pain his back was feeling seemed all too real, Shanks concluded that his daughter would be capable of sleep fighting.

"Does she get that from your side of the family or mine?" Shanks asked Makino a few moments later.

"I know I occasionally talk in my sleep, but that's only if I'm dreaming of someone. Does that mean the sleepwalking is from yours?"

"I've never done it, that I can recall or was told about. My grandfather occasionally did. I think I half died of fright the first time I saw that. I wasn't supposed to be sneaking out but was anyway. Got caught that time too. Wasn't fun at all."

"Oh, my. I'll have to tell her that she was doing it again."

"No, I'll do it." Shanks replied.

* * *

When dawn had truly begun to peak over the waves, his daughter who told him to take care of himself or she would have to hurt him for breaking her mother's heart. He replied with a parting comment of he'd be fine. Then, to tease her, he told her. "After all, the seas are probably safer than land as there aren't any redheads to toss fully-grown around in her sleep there."

"Captain?" Benn asked once they were out to sea as he was close enough to hear his parting comment and see how mad the remark had gotten her. His Captain's daughter had a temper on her that she had a considerable amount of control over. Even so, she was still a child however prone to sarcasam and pointed comments she was. She did get her revenge quite often, in rather subtle manners. It was a reminder to a few of the rookies that you don't piss off the people who make your food.

"She fell asleep at the bar. I went to go get cleaned up, got clean and saw her with her eyes open. Told her to go to bed, and when that didn't work I was going to pick her up but she tossed me into the wall. Eventually, got her to bed but it's rather scary how well she functions when asleep. Who knew parenthood was so dangerous?"

"That's going to be something to watch out for in the future isn't it?" Benn asked.

"If she's anything like my old man, then I don't have to worry about her virtue later. I've gotten a fair few bruises from waking my old man up from his afternoon naps and hangovers as a kid." Shanks blinked for a moment. He bit his lip to keep himself from saying something he shouldn't. "Knew, I was forgetting something. I forgot to ask who that Ace kid was."

"Ace kid?"

"Nevermind. I'll ask next time we're in town."

* * *

A/N; Like the longest chapter ever.

1. Completely made up, except for Shanks being born in West Blue on an Island that produced top-quality alcohol. He wouldn't refer to it as healing water otherwise. That means the island has really awesome sake, but I'm sure is pretty boring otherwise. Shanks wouldn't have such a party culture/habit if it wasn't something he was used to or grown up with. Besides, grandparents are awesome, so I could see him spending every possible moment as a kid with someone who did something interesting.

2. In OP, guns are typically flintlock. Historically, flintlock pistols were a shoot once type of deal so historical pirates would carry several at one time. In OP, flintlocks have been improved to shoot multiple times according to Oda's SBS/Q&A. Matchlocks were the really old timey guns that required a fuse and everything. The OP counterparts are superior to their historical counter parts but are somewhat inferior to their percussion-impact modern day counter parts when it comes to piercing power. I mean they're still using round lead bullets! Exploding rounds are possible in OP, but are rare. However guys from Mr. 5 had a revolver and a number of people from South Blue seemed to be mechanically inclined.

3. Shanks is Captain of the Red Hair Pirates. The sound 'Aka' can be written in a few ways. The first means 'Red.' The second is 'Scarlet' or 'Cardinal' which are shades of red. A third way it can be written has multiple meanings to it: thick, heavy, rich, kind, cordial, brazen and shameless. Gami as a separate word means high class, or graceful. Shanks hasn't ever been portrayed as high-class or graceful. He is however quite nice most of the time, plenty wealthy (he has to buy the booze somehow) and bold when he fights.

**10/30/2012 Edit:** Finished with this. My, my look at all the potential plot points and details to dig into later. You might want to remember them. The sleep-walking thing is going to be rather important later on.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N; Now for the Bandit to fully make an ass out of himself -and die. For those that can read between the lines, Aki is badass and not all that normal being the reincarnation of a more badass HP. Then again, she knows Garp and had once wanted to be a marine. I did change some of HP-cannon (the major plot points that can't be controlled/induced by her are still there) which eventually causes the wizarding war to be an actual _war_ and not a few hit-and-run battles with a final stand. Sorry JKR, you can't write a _war_ worth a damn.

**11/14/2012 Edit:** More detail, updated both author's note...

* * *

Chapter 4: Not Anyone's Afternoon

As the bar had been dead all morning long and no one beyond a few die hard regulars had shown, Makino saw no reason to keep her daughter there. Her daughter apparently did as she was busy sorting out expenses and balancing the finances of the bar. This was practice and something they both could do. This was mostly so they could eek out just a little bit more beri to place in a rainy day fund for when the bar would need repairs or renovating -such as after Garp had visited and the wall needed repairing. Having extra money squirreled away on account of Garp wrecking things obliviously or ignoring the door was just plain sense.

Makino watched as her daughter finished tallying the bar's accounts and then she checked over her daughter's accounting. It was thanks to the Red-Haired Pirates that her profits were up and because they were reasonable fellows she didn't have to have a wall replaced or furniture fixed. Sometime while she was reviewing the accounts, her daughter had put on her bandanna to keep her hair out of her face as she polished the tables, chairs and bar. Then and swept the floor of the bar. Admittedly, she could be doing more to help her daughter out, but it seemed like she had energy to burn and so she'd let her. She followed her daughter's gaze to the rack of bottles behind the bar and noticed that somehow they had accumulated a light coating of dust. Makino found it amusing that her daughter's cleaning standards were often a bit higher than her own in a number of places. The older barmaid joined her daughter in this bit of cleaning.

"Twitchy today?" She asked her daughter.

"Something is going to happen today. I can feel it."

Now that she mentioned it, she could feel it too. It seemed anticipatory, like it was waiting for something for good or ill.

"Is that so? Is it good or bad?" Makino asked her daughter. She had felt it first, so she probably had a better idea or it. Now if only she could pin down if those instincts belonged to her daughter or were shared with her father.

Her daughter snorted with a toss of her head that made her hair even more of a mess than usual. Makino noted that she would have to have a talk with Ace soon about improving his own behavior, especially since his caretakers either weren't there in the case of Garp, were ignored as by the majority he stayed with or didn't even try beyond making sure he was halfway clean and had a place to sleep at night in the case of Dadan. He at least listened to her somewhat. If she thought he'd accept, she'd would have offered to give him a place to stay here, although he'd end up having to share with Luffy when he stayed over. Luffy did have his own home to sleep at being the home his grandfather owned, and he could manage the very basics of taking care of himself such as getting dressed, but it wasn't right to leave a child alone like that.

"Is ignorance a curse or a blessing?" Her daughter replied.

Of all the things to inherit from her, a penchant for proverbs, word-play and crosswords were the things that Makino had never considered inheritable before. While she did indulge a bit in philosophy for those rainy-day patrons, she was more on the listening side of the spectrum of barkeeps instead of those that would dispense advice or undeniable truths coached in sympathy. Sometimes though, when she watched and listened her daughter, the mayor and others discuss things and topics she had never at least seriously considered before, her daughter could sound so old and wise.

"Is the road to enlightenment paved?" Makino responded. This was a questioned that depended on the person as there were three ways a person gained wisdom and became enlightened. One was imitation, the second was reflection and the last was experience and all three had their advantages and disadvantages -not even mentioning what a person would require to even go through one of those paths to enlightenment.

"I think," her daughter paused to compose her words. It was something she was picking up from Benn Beckman, who was a welcomed male influence in her life along with her father's. Admittedly, Benn was a far more mature and practical influence -her daughter's crush on her father's first mate notwithstanding. "I think that every day is a both an ending and a beginning. I also find myself anxious for the next chapter yet concerned that the next page would be the last."

Makino muddled on her daughter's statement as they polished the bottles behind the bar to a sparkling shine. Now that she knew about that rather oppressing feeling of anticipation she could agree with what her daughter was feeling. No one could say either of them weren't sharp. It was practically a requirement for a female bartender and owner, whatever the age. Even though Fuushia was a small town that was way out of the way for most people, they did see the occasional visiting ship who had men who didn't know when enough was enough or how to keep their hands off of a pretty woman after a certain number of drinks. Eventually the two women ran out of bottles full of alcohol to polish.

"Why don't you go play a board game or cards with the mayor?" She suggested.

"It's just about time for Luffy to come visit us for lunch." Her daughter replied. "You know how he eats."

Makino knew that tactic of hers very well. It was a way that she'd avoid answering a question that she didn't want to. While her daughter was honest and she was proud of that, there was a difference between honest and perfectly misleading while being honest. She wouldn't lie to you -she'd make your own mind lie for her.

"But you've practically made this bar look new with how clean it is." Makino chirped in a way that she knew made it seem like she had fluff for brains. "I think it would be poor mothering to make you work all the time, especially when you don't have to."

"I think I will ask him about it and he'll grumble for a bit. Especially if I'll win again." Akiyaki replied as she left. Makino sighed. Of all the things to pick up from spending time with a pirate crew and a man like Benn Beckman, strategy wasn't a thing that usually could be done. At least it wasn't his smoking habit, Makino consoled herself with. Now if only her daughter would stop playing with his hair, it made her crush on the man more than a little obvious.

* * *

The bar was empty again before Luffy came in for a meal and his afternoon juice that was charged onto his treasure tab. Luffy's treasure tab was a line of credit extended and paid for by his grandfather, as otherwise, a small business like hers couldn't afford to stay open as those expenses wouldn't be paid for a long while considering Luffy's age. It was worth pointing out that her lover and his crew did pay for their drinks and hers that time Shanks had talked her into a drinking contest. About those pirates...

"They've been away for awhile now. Do you feel lonely, Luffy?" Makino asked him.

"Nope." Luffy replied with a child's resolve. It was rather refreshing. Sometimes Akiyaki seemed too old to have such naivete and the childish stubbornness Luffy possessed. "I haven't forgiven them for the bandit incident yet! I overestimated Shanks! I thought he was a tough pirate! What a disappointment."

Makino felt an instance of anger towards Luffy for not seeing Shanks as a wonderful man, but reminded herself that Luffy was still a child and thought and judged like a child. How could she explain it to him in a way that he could understand without showing off Shanks' bounty poster?

"Really? I thought people who could laugh it off after getting picked on are pretty brave." Makino did know better. She did keep up with the outside world after all. She was just grateful that he hadn't changed a bit from that meeting all those years ago and his crew was like him -good and brave pirates.

"That's because you don't understand there are times when a man should fight back!"

"Oh? I guess I don't know anything then." Makino replied calmly. She had asked him and his crew to not fight in her bar because she knew they could fight and destroy the place easily. They had listened. She was sure that they did it out of deference to Shanks' will as it was more than a little obvious that he was courting her.

What she didn't know was that she had exerted an aura of 'cross me and die in a gruesome fashion best left unmentioned' when she had said it. The pirates weren't going to mention it to her either. She was the Captain's fair lady after all.

"That's right, you don't." A male voice that sounded familiar cut in as the doors swung open. A quick glance confirmed her dread. "We're back again. Well, looks like the pirates aren't here today. It sure is quiet." The bandit with the 8,000,000 beri bounty on his head observed as he let himself and his gang in the bar. "Bring us some sake! We're customers. Well, what are you waiting for?"

Makino sighed. This could only be the start of what her daughter had sensed. It was going to be an absolute mess, but business was business. Sometimes jobs were dirty, but they had to be done. Now if only these men had come in earlier, so that the bar wouldn't have to be cleaned again.

She disliked having to do things twice because someone else messed up her work.

* * *

'_If today is a mixed blessing, where is the good?_' Makino thought as she ran towards the Mayor. Once she reached the Mayor she informed him of what had happened to Luffy and as consequence her daughter. Akiyaki quietly followed after them.

Akiyaki watched in front of her mother the Mayor's pleading for Luffy. It was something that she considered to be doomed to failure. Anyone with eyes could see that the bandit was a prideful bastard and if Luffy could hit anywhere with any force at his age it was at a man's pride. Even a poor excuse for a man. Not for the last or the first time, Aki had to wonder if Luffy had any common sense at all.

She moved her left hand to have her hand ready for a quick draw of her gun. The bandit might terrorize others with his willingness to cause violence and harm to others but in tactics he clearly was rather inept. His back was open and because of his focus on Luffy he wasn't paying attention to either side of the street and his gang was equally pathetic. It would take nothing but a solid twitch of a finger to end him right now.

She scowled as she watched the Mayor negotiate with the bandit. She could already tell that it was an attempt that was doomed before it ever started. He was a prideful bastard -him counting the amount of people he killed, his slightly better clothing and bearing told anyone with eyes this. And Luffy had hurt his pride. Never before had she been glad that Luffy was now made of rubber. Blunt force trauma did nothing to him, however she was a might more concerned with the bandit's sword hanging over Luffy's pinned body like a -like the sword of Damocles? She briefly wondered about that thought and decided to pursue it later -when some she cared about wasn't being threatened with decapitation at the young age of seven.

Because the bandit wasn't paying attention to the streets as he was far more wrapped up in himself, allowed her father to show up in time for a rescue. Due to the Mayor's house being closer to the mountains, the bandits were theoretically boxed in, discarding the option of going through a couple of buildings where she knew a few people were hiding in. The next time they came in, she was going to slightly burn their meals. Cowards. However, her mother and the Mayor weren't fighters and she only had a limited number of shots with no sure chance of managing to fire them all. Hitting them she would have no issues with, as time spent with Yassop and some of the crew more inclined to fight at a distance had helped her improve her aim even on moving targets and the bandits and gang were both larger and slower than those thrown targets. The cost of ammo was a bit cost prohibitive and left a number of people in Goa proper with lighter wallets and slightly more empty houses. She was a bit wary of having to kill them, but figured that kneecaps were open season.

While she was considering what actions she would have to take if necessary, she was also taking notes on what her father was doing. He was intentionally drawing attention towards himself with his words and actions. Then in a proper display of tactics, bravery and trust, a particularly cocky bandit was killed after he drew his pistol on the older redhead.

She also noted that it was slightly cruel to tease a guy seconds before he died, and with such an expression on her father's face. It was a pity that his 'too-nice-to-be-a-pirate' reputation that he had gain in town was now gone. Now he would be known as the 'generally nice guy for a pirate, but not one to mess with nonetheless' at the very least. Her mother had trained her well in divining the rumors and effects of a reputation. What went unsaid was how to use that information. She came by that naturally.

She watched as the bandits proclaimed such a thing as dirty. There was no such thing as dirty in such a conflict where winner would take all.

'_Is he an idiot? They're pirates! Well known ones at that! I don't think that this guy has looked at a bounty poster other than his own for ages!_' Aki thought as she was angered by the blatant stupidity that was being shown by the natives of her own home island.

She was thankful that Benn and her father fixed that little misconception that these bandits had. Her father then stated the reason why he was such a good captain. He didn't care what happened to him, but if you messed with someone he cared about like his friends or his crew then you were fish food or dead. She also had the sinking feeling that Luffy had become a little devout worshiper of his hero -her father- again.

The bandits again displayed a lack of tactics by rushing madly at the pirates in an uncoordinated mass, and were promptly and easily mowed down by Benn. Despite Benn wielding and knowing how to use a rifle properly, he had the tendency to wield it like a club whenever he felt like enforcing discipline on the crew. Akiyaki also got the impression that everyone she knew from Fuusha was easily awed. Benn on his worst day could have beat all of these incompetents. Were they blind or just that unobservant? How had they missed all of that?

"Ah! Wait a minute...This little brat messed with us first!"

Aki scowled. Something still felt off though. The bandit was all but defeated –ah ha! He was desperate and no one had gotten Luffy away from him yet. That was carelessness on her father's and his crew's part -maybe.

"It doesn't matter." Shanks replied coolly and serious. "After all, there's a reward on your head."

Akiyaki admitted that while he was being cool, saying that line probably wasn't the wisest thing he had ever done.

Those words had driven the bandit into a panic judging by the tension along his shoulder. This panic was further proven by the smoke bomb in the next instant. She tensed as she gripped her still concealed snub-nosed revolver. Luffy was a guaranteed hostage since he could easily be found the smoke as he was still trapped under the bandit's foot. She could also be used as a hostage as well since the smoke bomb covered such a large area and she was still a child -and thus easily portable.

"Come with me, brat!" She heard the bandit command. That confirmed that.

"Uwa! Damnit! Let go of me!" She heard Luffy shout.

She coughed and tried to wave away the smoke. Then she felt an arm wrap around her. She hated being right at times. She also hated the way the bandit was holding her since he was pinning her arms down even as she struggled and kicked, ineffectually. She really wanted to be grown-up so that she would have the reach to kick him. There was only one thing left to do then no matter how much doing such a thing would gall her pride.

"Dad!"

* * *

Akiyaki thought that there really was a thing called celebrating too soon. Higuma was high on the success of getting away with the two hostages and out to sea which only proved his ignorance of it. If a number of pirates started off as fellows like him, no wonder the Grand Line was known as the Pirate's Graveyard -if they ever made it to the entrance in the first place. Did he even have a heading or was he just going to drift? Either way he was a stupid bandit and she would have shot him already if she was free and she wouldn't even bother aiming for the kneecaps. Until then she was stuck until she either wriggled free or forced him to let go of her.

Luffy was lucky when it came to not being held anymore as he had been tossed onto the floor of the shitty wooden boat. She unfortunately was still pinned to his side and unable to draw her weapon or kick him like she wanted to -repeatedly. Why of all days, didn't she take her knives with her today? She knew something was going to happen! She could have sliced his wrist and arm open already!

The already short-tempered bandit quickly got annoyed at Luffy's crybaby antics and tossed him out to sea. Luffy might be a hammer in the water for now and forever but he wasn't sinking yet. Quickly she make note that there were obviously some things she didn't know about devil fruits but given their supposed rarity in the Blues much less East Blue -there wasn't a whole lot of information on them either. Maybe it integrated at different rates depending on the person or some other factors like age 'cause the rumors said that devil fruit users weren't even supposed to be able to move once submerged.

Eventually, or maybe thanks to him shifting her so he could toss Luffy overboard she managed to elbow the bandit into dropping her. Once she was on the boat she finally pulled out her gun and aimed it at the disgusting bandit pulling the trigger in one smooth motion as he was going for his blade. While the bandit was falling down dead on the boat she had noticed that her sash had come undone and so she was holding it loose and was about to tie it back on.

Thankfully she looked around. That's how she saw the Lord of the Coast, a small Sea King as far as Sea Kings go, but still a Sea King nonetheless, show up, rearing his scaly face. She did some quick math, said something her mother would kill her for if she heard and jumped into the Sea King's open mouth before the Sea King bit the boat in half.

This Sea King was going down from the inside. She couldn't let it eat Luffy after all.

She totally missed the man with red hair swimming towards Luffy.

* * *

"Shanks!" Luffy yelled while crying. Why?

"_Get lost_." Luffy's savior told the Sea King. Shanks' voice lost the commanding and he continued speaking normally, "Thanks, Luffy. Makino told me about everything. Thanks for sticking up for us." How could he say that! Like it was nothing!

"But...! Shanks!" Luffy protested.

"Oh, c'mon. Boys don't cry." The pirate chuckled as he told the rubber boy that.

"Your arm!"

"It's nothing. It's just an arm. As long as you're alive." Shanks told him. How could he say that like it was no big deal! It was an arm!

"And Aki! She was-She!"

"She'll be fine. She took care of the bandit right? She'll take care of the Sea King too. Besides, she can swim just fine after all." Shanks told Luffy, meanwhile he was far more worried about his daughter. The first kill was often traumatic, -usually for the sheer ease involved- but she had put that aside. What he was worried about the fact that she had been eaten -she had actually jumped into the Sea King's mouth! However she was strong and smarter than he was at that age, so he had to have faith that she knew what she was doing -or at least had an idea.

Luffy cried some more on his hero's chest, disbelieving of Akiyaki's fate, while Shanks put his budding parental skills to use consoling him with his presence. Several long minutes later and further out to sea the Sea King appeared again, flailing in seeming agony. That wasn't normal Sea King behavior, even after he had intimidated it. Shanks watched as seconds that dragged on like minutes later, the crazed movements of the Sea King stopped as its head fell into the water again and started sinking. Two minutes later a smaller red head broke the water's surface, as she swam towards them. Shanks idly noted that she was covered in blood that was turning the area around her a murky color as the bay's water cleansed it off of her.

It was only when she got closer did the young boy realized that not all of the blood was the Sea King's or the bandit's. Some of it was hers judging by the twin wounds on her face and some of it was from the severed arm she was carrying in her mouth by the sleeve still attached to the arm. It took her a few minutes to reach them as she had apparently had a few more injuries that they couldn't see and the current was stronger further out.

Shanks was extremely thankful that she was alive. He could care less about the severed arm.

Once she had reached them, it took a few more seconds for her to catch her breath. "Did you think I'd die that easy, hammer-boy? I just checked off one of the things I had planned to do a little earlier than I thought I would. Killing a Sea King is considered to be a sign of strength after all..."

Luffy sobbed harder. The two redheads sighed in unison and started swimming towards the shore.

"Captain, are any of your men skilled enough with a needle and medicine so that you can get your arm back on or will I have to get mom and the town's doctor to fix it?" She asked in a demanding tone that was muffled by the sleeve in her mouth.

"I'll let Benn and the ship's doc have a look at it, and see what can be done." Shanks told his daughter. He just had to say that at least it was a clean enough loss with minimal crushing of the bone and he probably wasn't leaving any important bits of him behind. Even the muscles of his arm were cleanly cut. The blood and how his formerly long sleeved white shirt just made it seem far more ragged than it was.

"Good. It'll be hard to fight that one rival of yours you told me about with only an arm." She replied, in a tone of voice that Shanks recognized from a number of people having once thoroughly annoyed and angry and satisfied at something at the same time. Usually he heard that tone from Benn and Rayleigh.

"I could take him even then." Shanks protested. He was rather ambidextrous as wielding two swords from his time with Roger required him being such. He wasn't as good with his right but his right arm was still plenty better than a number of the world's swordsmen. (1)

"I know, but would he fight you?" She asked in concern.

"Probably not." Shanks admitted after a moment of thinking. Mihawk held close to heart the honor of the way of the sword and while he probably wouldn't admit it, Mihawk enjoyed their duels. Shanks enjoyed them for the exercise as the duels were exceedingly close but Mihawk was the best swordsman he had ever fought and by now he knew most of his tricks, so as much as he enjoyed the swords clashing he also enjoyed their duels more for the party afterwards that he would convince Hawk-eye to join in on with increasing regularity over the years. Maybe one day, Mihawk would actually admit to them being friends.

The pair of redheads continued to bicker until they reached shore, where they were greeted by their family. Luffy was placed into Makino's arms while father and daughter supported each other still. He didn't quite like how she was swaying, after she had passed his arm off to the closest doctor -the one from his crew.

"Benn." The daughter said suddenly, surprising him. He was half expecting her to have collapsed by now. Killing a Sea King was no minor feat. "I heard Sea King meat is good. Feel like getting someone to go fetching it for me, along with the bounty? He might be dead now, but he's still going to pay for ruining my clothes and my day."

"Sure thing, little Missy." Shanks watched his first mate reply. Of all the traits she had to get from him, that was one he wasn't expecting to see.

Benn was rather amused at his Captain's daughter, however worried and concerned he might be at her actions. It was amusing to see the Captain's vindictiveness and ability to hold a grudge passed on in such a way. She was usually a much more practical person than his Captain, but that might be because she was raised that way or was female or just that way naturally.

"Good. Someone else needs to go get the alcohol from under the floorboards of the bar's backroom. It's not fit for drinking but it'll clean wounds well enough. There should be some gut that's fresh in the kitchen's backroom as well. Bandages and needles should be in the bathroom, in the kit in the towel closet. I think that's it, so go fix the Captain." She looked up at her father who looked down at her. "Help me to the bar? I need some of that myself." The little girl of ten years who had just killed a man and Sea King less than ten minutes ago said as she swayed alarmingly before gaining her footing.

Shanks was then properly alarmed when she collapsed into her father's side, having been injured far worse than most had assumed and she ignoring it for longer than she should have.

"I will. Now, you heard her men! Hop to it!" Shanks commanded. "Get those supplies and the doc here on the double!"

* * *

A/N: Surprisingly difficult to get through this without reiterating cannon completely and filling in the details that everyone already knows or should for an OP fan as it's basically the first manga chapter. Akiyaki is seems like such a serious person at the moment... she's not always as serious as shown but she is highly intelligent and mature for her age. I'm just doing snapshots at the moment. Unfortunately most of the snapshots seem to show her difference from other kids in regards to intelligence and mentality... Actually, now that I've revised this chapter, this is where Aki being somewhat-tsundere truly begins.

1. Watch the tenth OP movie closely and pay attention to Shanks when he's shown. Shanks is not only adorable, but he is assumed to be left handed based on how he's holding his swords and the fact that he still carries his sword on his right. It's possible to draw a sword on your hips with the hand on the same side, but you sacrifice speed in doing so and a potential attack. Still, you have to hand it to the guy who can 'match' Shirohige's bisento with his off-hand, as after loosing an arm in cannon he had to change how he fought entirely because of this. It seems that there is no such thing as 'too over-powered' in OP.

-By the way, has anyone noticed that of a number of the epic swordsmen we've seen in OP a number of them seem to be left-handed? There's Shanks, Zoro, potentially Kuina based on a screenshot.

-Tashigi by contrast is one of the few characters that has a name and is a right handed swordsman. Law is another. Brook is still more awesome than both.

-Mihawk uses both hands with ease. In East Blue he uses his right hand yet in the screenshots of Mihawk in the Whitebeard war, a number of them have him as left-handed. As for why I'm mentioning screenshots, I don't feel like watching people die again.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N; The plot is mostly floating in my head...I don't want to reiterate cannon, but some is obviously needed.

**11/29/2012 Edit:** Some clarification, updating of the author's notes etc. Same thing I've done on the previous chapters.

* * *

Chapter 5: Differences Made Apparent

When Akiyaki came to her senses she was glad she was in her soft and comfy bed. She was hurting in more than a couple of different places. She would have said all over but her legs felt just fine.

In retrospect, jumping into a Sea King's mouth was a bad idea, but it was better than any other possible idea she had –including shooting the Sea King through the eye as her little revolver didn't have the piercing power necessary to go through bone and brain. That was something she had to work on -finding a revolver of that make and model with a higher amounting of piercing power or make a revolver and rounds for herself.

She reviewed her physical state as she internally grimaced. She knew that whatever injuries she had would also likely scar because of the salt and other minerals in the ocean water. She also now knew how much of a bad idea it was to go swimming with such an injury from somewhere -salt causes muscle contractions. Swimming became something of an issue but she was able to smile and bicker through the pain because it was better than the worry and sympathy and it wasn't the worst she had ever felt...? Gah! Her head wasn't making any sense. She remembered her being four and stupid about telling Garp that she wanted to be a marine but other than Garp's crazy training, the beasts in the jungle and the occasional serious injury from trying to kill Ace because he was being a jack-ass again she had never been hurt or felt pain like that in her life. So why did she know that? She tried to find the information in her head. All she got was a grizzled male voice saying '_...curse that causes pain. So much that...' _and a younger female voice saying, '_It's an unforgivable_...' That was all she could recall.

Her head still wasn't making sense even after all that sleep to recover from her injuries.

The salt water had stung fiercely during her swim. She knew she hadn't and wouldn't come out of her kill's stomach -throat technically- unscathed but it was the best of the worst options available at that time. Given that she had been covered in blood it was nice that the swim after the kill had managed to wash most of it off.

She was damn lucky to have survived. She knew this.

That particular dress was thoroughly ruined beyond any hope of repair that. Her stockings probably were too. And sash.

She had managed to get her sash to catch on one of the Sea King's back teeth as she had no intention of being dissolved by stomach acid. Knowing that she probably only had a few seconds before her gun became worthless because it was wet she had looked for the things she had to assume were the veins and arteries that were close by -those in the neck below her and those under the tongue above her. She fired four shots from inside the creature's mouth before it had finished biting down on the boat. Her sash then, prevented her from falling all the way down the Sea King's gullet. She had held on and hoped that one of the wooden remains or her weight wouldn't be enough to rip it and doom her. As it stood, the sharp fragments of wood and the idiot bandit's sword had done a number on her.

The overgrown fish hadn't liked that at all, but it still didn't prevent the wooden remains of the boat, a corpse and a large amount of sea water from washing down the creature's throat scant seconds later either. Thanks to the sash she had held on in a crouch, keeping the gun as dry as possible so that she could shoot it again.

Light soon appeared along with a large amount of sea water, and so she fired off the last of her loaded ammunition as quickly as possible at what looked like the most likely targets of a sure if bloody, and messy kill. She knew that she hadn't gotten one of those veins like she had wanted, but she had seriously nicked them if the blood that had rained down shortly afterwards was any hint. The blood had practically baptized her and made holding on even more difficult.

Then an arm had landed in hers and she recognized the feel of the shirt. A bit of numb horror built in the back of her mind as she recognized the arm. It was one of her father's arms. The only thought that went though her mind was that he needed that. If anyone ever asked she could honestly tell them that after that she wasn't thinking at all.

She also needed to keep her gun while keeping the rest of her and her father's arm from being digested. She flicked the safety back on even though it was out of ammo and put it in her left striped stocking. Her sash was busy holding her up at the moment -and most likely ripping.

In theory, trying to climb up a giant sea snake's throat is something most would consider difficult even if someone was prepared for it with appropriate climbing gear –living things have a tendency to move around. Creatures that were aquatic moved around more often than most as they needed the breathable air dissolved in water. Aki knew that if she didn't kill the sea king and get to the surface that she'd run out of breathable air, pass out, fall and be dissolved in stomach acid. Knowing this gave her plenty of incentive to climb out, if not the gear and optimal conditions.

Trying to do so injured and in boots with a cloth sash as the only thing keeping you somewhat in place in a beast going through its death rolls? That's goes into the impossible range. The only advantages that she had were, that she was smaller than the beast's throat and wasn't all the way down in the esophagus or even into the trachea. Those advantages were heavily countered by the thrashing erratic movements of the sea king, her injured state, and the amount of liquid getting poured on her of both blood and sea water and the force behind the swallowed sea water. Since the wooden shrapnel had done a number on her, she was also distracted by the amount of pain she was in because of the salt, but that pain also had the benefit of keeping her awake.

Eventually, the Lord of the Coast broke the surface of the water again with its thrashing. Unfortunately, it was being rather successful in trying to drown her. A harsh kick had the Sea King rearing back long enough for her to catch a lungful of air, as it did the sea king equivalent of coughing. It soon dove underwater again, this time with its mouth closed so that she could climb up, even if she was being bled upon heavily from a wound to the palate from a missed shot. Reaching one of the spots that she had noticed was bleeding sluggishly from the brief bit of light that had reached her when the Lord of the Coast had surfaced; she threw her weight into the punch with the arm that was hurting more, even if they were both most likely equally damaged. She broke through with the second punch, and she kept her hand there as the Sea King had begun thrashing again even though she had been covered in more blood in those seconds than she had been before. The pressure and thrashing moved her from her perch and caused her to gasp as she lost her footing and slid back down her on her sash, and then was swung under the crimson waterfall. Thanks to the thrashing it was inevitable that she had swallowed some, however unwillingly. She was only grateful that the Lord of the Coast was keeping his mouth shut, as otherwise she was sure she would have drowned.

Eventually, as it was bound to happen, the Sea King would and did bleed to death from internal wounds. This had the unfortunate effect of the Sea King opening its jaws, letting the sea water in.

Water being denser than air, it quickly filled in the beast's mouth, battering her around some more. Ignoring the cloudy pink water and the stinging in her wounds, she kept hold of her father's arm and swam in between the razor sharp teeth. She opened her eyes underwater and ignored the slight sting of salt. Spying sunlight above her she swam up, trying not to get dragged out to sea by the current of the ocean.

Although her wounds were seriously stinging and her arms cramping, she assured herself that she was only crying because of the salt in her eyes. By the time she had reached her father and the numb-skull she had been fully succeeded in ignoring all of her accumulated wounds. How many had she had again? It felt like a lot. She was thirsty too. However she knew that she couldn't go to sleep yet. That would be mean to Shanks, so she forced herself to bicker with her father as they swam towards shore. Ignoring the pain and smiling through it was something that had come easily to her. Why had such a thing came so easily to her?

Her throat had felt dry as they finally reached everyone that had gathered on the shore. Because she was thirsty was why she had fought sleep's hold. Her father and she needed medical treatment, and she seriously wanted something to drink, but she was pretty sure that she had passed out before she had managed to say something to that effect.

* * *

Sleep's hold was a deep and completely consuming void. There she dreamed about a girl who wasn't treated well, but well enough by her remaining blood family. The girl had spent a lifetime learning magic and having adventures with friends while she was at school. She dreamed of the girl's best friend. She had dreamed of the girl's various crushes, boyfriends and lovers and of her rivals, foes and enemies and of the battles that all of the above had participated in. She saw murky visions of the girl fighting and winning a war. She watched as how in memory of her brilliant, brilliant best friend, the girl now fully-grown and a woman not to be trifled with saw to the revamping the stagnant society and securing a brighter future after she had retired from adventuring. She then had dreamed of retiring to a secretive research division and later of being murdered by a co-worker. She dreamed of the research done and the magicks preformed to allow her to live again and continue this work.

Some of this knowledge came to her instinctively as if she had known and breathed it for years. Some of this knowledge was more than a little hazy. However, she knew that this wasn't exactly right.

Apparently, there was a miscalculation somewhere.

Figures that there would be.

Her luck was like that.

Even now.

Shit.

* * *

"Oh, you're up!" A distorted voice to her left said. She didn't even need to see him to know that it was Yassop next to her bed.

"Shouldn't you be bragging to Luffy about how awesome your son is?" She asked as her voice scratched the words out ignoring the pain on her cheek. '_Wait, how did I know that it was Yassop that was there?'_ She ignored that for something more important to consider. "Where's mom and -"

"Captain and Miss Makino were given a micky a few hours ago by the doc. They were driving everyone crazy. Benn went and had us put on a bed side watch for the 'Little Boss-Missy,' as he called you."

"So I've been out for a while then." She replied slowly as she tried to focus while sleep tried to maintain its rule. She then noticed all the bandages practically mummifying her torso. She didn't think she was injured enough to require so many. Nothing that she knew of had gotten her all that deeply.

"It's been five days now. Doc was a bit worried about you making it. Between nearly half drowning, blood loss, severe bruising, a pair of broken ribs and a fractured wrist you weren't in good shape."

That list of injuries didn't bode well at all but it did explain the partially mummification. However Yassop was leaving off something she considered important, and since she was healing she was being pulled back into the realm of sleep.

"Concussion too. My vision was triple before I passed out." She added in a sleepy voice. She knew the signs and symptoms of concussion. She had given and received several of them due to her continued spats with Ace. Admittedly, they weren't trying to kill each other the moment they laid eyes on each other or the second Sabo wasn't there anymore. Now they could actually make it through an hour without trying to kill each other. There was still a high amount of violence in their friendship dynamics -how did she even know those words- but that's because they were- she couldn't even reason it out in her head! Ace wasn't important at the moment even though she had missed her meeting with him. She then noticed that Yassop was speaking, but it seemed like no time had passed in her thoughts since she had spoken. Curious and curiouser...

"That was before the fever that showed up and that fever didn't want to break! You had us all worried! It spiked to dangerously high levels! They had to have you in ice baths and you were melting it, even then!"

Why wasn't her head making any sense? Who used words like that? Shit, why couldn't she stay awake..?

"Sorry 'bout that." She murmured back before falling back into sleep's hold.

* * *

There she dreamed about flying and games, and of a prophecy and of a long hunt on the run. Of breaking into the most secure place in the world and escaping on the back of a dragon. Dragons were awesome. She dreamed many dreams of various magical creatures that she had known and found and worked with or killed. In some of her more lucid dreams she wondered about some of those creatures as she had never heard of them, so why did she know them?

Now, she had another thing to add to her life's to-do list. Get a pet dragon or something equally as dangerous. They were awesome... and cute.

Yes, she did have survival instincts, Hermi...? Hermi-something. Hermi-something was her friend. "'Mione?" Ah, her name was Hermione then. Jane? Jean? Granger, or didn't it change to something else. Odd given name, from one of Shakespeare's plays you say? How interesting. Class was interesting too. You really should learn to relax. Cause you stress? That wasn't her intention. She wanted a dragon, she knew how to take care of it and had the capital for such a venture.

Oh, the legality of 'owning a dragon' could be avoided. Enough property, good wards and say hello to a private dragon reserve. It wouldn't be like she was hiding a hippogryff in the attic. Oh, well that could be a problem, but not an immediate one. Damn. Stop poking logic-shaped holes into my reasoning. Yes, I recognize my logical fallacy in my argument but we're not discussing ethics at the moment. Why not? It's not like they don't have plenty of land and doing the wards like this, overlap them in these places and we're good.

Yeah, it would be a lot of work. I know that some of those wards were more than a little sketchy. Of course they were a bit violent and heavily paranoid. She had found the schema in the Black Family Library -a place that yes, deserved all those capital letters. Are we really getting into a discussion over proper English grammar when there are many things -they gave up their right to be called people- that want to kill us?

The dragon from below the bank deserved better conditions. He isn't trying to kill us after all. Shouldn't he enjoy his retirement free?

Her sleep meandered along those lines, causing more questions than answers to arise.

* * *

The next time she awoke was three days later with the tickling memory of basilisk glasses that could do stuff –the memory of the dream was hazy. She could smell cigarette smoke with the faded smell of food and grease. The smell of meat was nearly buried under that of smoke and male musk.

She croaked out the next few words. "Benn, tell Lucky Roo he's not allowed to eat in my room if he's going to make a mess or we'll be seeing how lucky he is."

Thankfully Benn was a much better caretaker than Yassop as he had a glass of cool water ready and handed it over with an eyebrow raised at her. In small sips the glass was drained of its contents. The water was waking her up somewhat but she had to wonder why Benn was the better caretaker considering that Yassop had a kid. Maybe because he had to take care of her dad so often. Thinking about that pirate...

"Did you guys drug your Captain again?" She asked blearily.

"Had too. He shouldn't be up as he's healing too." So either the arm was fixed or they had gave him another cut to it so it could heal properly.

"Yassop didn't say anything like that. Just that, I had made everyone worry."

"We are. It was a stupid and reckless move." Benn replied scolding her. She steeled herself and narrowed her eyes. She had faced worse in those dreams of hers than a little disappointment. You don't get through a war unchanged. She knew how strong and how fragile human life was because of them and it.

"It was the best of bad choices." She defended her choice. "There was getting killed or worse by that bandit, so I killed him first. He wouldn't cause further problems that way. I think he knew how to swim well enough that he could have tossed me in and then jumped overboard so I would have been eaten then -and become more than a little chewed upon, I believe. So with him out of the way, then I could have saved Luffy by jumping towards him and swimming but then we would have been easy prey for the Sea King and Da-Shanks would have lost more than an arm however temporary. Then there was staying on the boat where I was, getting shredded by the teeth and dying as fish food. Attempting to shoot it in its eye wouldn't work either as it would be more pissed and veer even more towards Luffy. Then there was jumping. I couldn't jump and swim out of danger and so I still would have been eaten where the teeth would also get me. By jumping in its mouth, I had more control over my own fate. I wasn't going to and I'm not about to let some overgrown sea snake beat me, much less succeed in making me its snack and chew-toy when I haven't done all I plan to do." She said with an air of finality.

Silence reigned as Benn took a deep inhale of his cigarette. She knew he was working through what she said, to find some reason to scold her for other than making them all worry.

"That control nearly led to your death." Benn eventually replied.

"Jumping in was better than the alternatives that I could see and do. It was stupid and I know that, but I'm going to be fine. Besides, aren't the best paths in life are often the hardest fought?"

"That-! That's not what I meant." Benn's teeth ground down hard on his cigarette.

"I'm a bit banged up, but healing. The crybaby's fine and the Captain's whole. I doubt that I'll be let out of Mom's sight for the next month. We're fine." She said with a remarkable amount of nonchalance. "Now am I allowed out of my bed or do I have to ask you for food?" Her question ended with a whine that was disturbingly like how Shanks would whine when confined to bed or so Benn realized.

"That's easy enough to do."

"Can you explain why I know that Da-Shanks is going to be fine?" She asked as she brushed back her messy bangs and grimaced at the feel. Talk about a mess. Like her life with politics, magic and the other shit that seemed to be happening to her -like going crazy.

"A women's intuition is truly a thing to be feared." The first mate replied. "Don't worry overmuch about your father. Worry about yourself more and eat what I bring you, Missy." With that Benn Beckman left the room, the gears in his mind turning with a new puzzle and a new worry.

'_What the hell happened while I was out with fever? Beyond oddly lucid dreaming of what I think was a past life? I don't understand this at all... _' Confused and frustrated Aki had nothing to do but think and heal while stuck in bed. She had the oddest feeling that this type of confusion and frustration wasn't going to be a one-time deal.

There were times that she hated being right.

* * *

It was two days of long naps and meals later that Akiyaki had finally cornered her overly concerned Father into telling her exactly what had occurred –because she knew she shouldn't have been taken out that hard and that long from gashes and blood loss alone. How she knew, she didn't quite understand so something had to have happened beyond the spontaneous fever. She didn't get sick. Most of the crew didn't really understand what happened or didn't know enough and Benn was wily enough to avoid any conversation traps to get him to tell her.

The explanation was a long and overly drawn out affair -that was entirely her father's fault. He dithered over how to break the news of what happened and it all came out in a rush that it she wasn't Luffy's babysitter-apparent she wouldn't have understood. She then translated the information from babble into something coherent after she had gotten what happened to him and how her father was doing.

Sometime shortly after they had come to shore, someone had managed to pin Shanks down and re-attach his arm. Him loosing so much blood might have given whoever that was a huge advantage against him. The re-attached arm was healing well enough, although Shanks said it was tingling and numb off and on as the nerves re-attached and connected again. He'd was going to have to re-learn how to use it, once the ship's doc and Benn cleared him for it.

Sometime after he had been fixed up and re-attached he had woke up and gotten the situation from her mom -who was busy distracting Luffy from bothering her and keeping the bar running. With just that bit of information, Aki was tempted to say that her mother was being rather cavalier about her injuries but she had been visiting every spare moment that she could make and loosing some sleep. There was a reason that the Shanks' doc had conspired with the town's doctor and slipped her something to knock her out. It totally explained Yassop's and Lucky Roo's continued absence as distracting Luffy was rather easy but also exhausting.

Apparently her wounds had been contaminated with Sea King blood and then the blood was sealed in by the salt in the sea water. As a side note, a number of her scars would be permanent but she knew that anyway. Due to having bled significantly she had received what amounted to a large transfusion of Sea King blood. What had occurred after getting to shore was an extreme reaction to the usual blood rejection. Chills, fever, trouble breathing, chest and back pain, hemorrhage, fast heart beat, and a rapid drop in blood pressure. Because of the blood transfusion being cross-species and raw, it was only that much worse as most transfused blood was purified of white blood cells and there were different proteins and such produced by the Sea King's white blood cells that she had a delayed allergic reaction to. Thankfully, the doctor had recognized the beginning stages to what could have developed into anaphylactic shock and treated that mess quickly enough -like before she died. Then there was the mild dehydration that they were constantly fighting with as she sweated through several sheets and all the salt she had absorbed in her swim during her fevers and the blood loss from opening up those healing wounds again. Benn eventually ended up giving her a transfusion of his own blood because of that. Between the fever dreams, nearly dying from bodily shock caused by the Sea King blood, and blood loss from her wounds on multiple occasions, she had come dreadfully close to death's door and made herself at home on his front porch for a few days.

The fever even with medication was high enough to where the doctor feared brain damage, and she had managed to melt through quite a bit of ice by the sheer amount of heat she was radiating. The chills never quite reached the hypothermia stage but only because Fuusha didn't get that cold, and ended with her buried under six heavy blankets. She often had more trouble breathing than she would have otherwise because of her busted ribs that they were constantly worried about breaking further and piercing a lung during fever dreams. It had also taken a long time for her wounds to stop bleeding and restore her body to a normal fluid balance, along with three proper blood transfusions later, most of which was provided by Benn who had the same blood type. This was where she was thankful that like her mother who was XF instead of like her father or Luffy who had the blood type of F. (1)

She was equally thankful that she only had another day of enforced bed rest after that. Finally, eleven days after she had killed the Sea King she had managed to get up and take care of her own self as she didn't need constant watching anymore. She wanted to know exactly how long of sleeves she would end up having to wear. The answer was to the wrist more or less. Her hands were fine, but she'd have an impressive set of starting to form stripes of scar tissue decorating both arms. She had another two short scars under her eye on the left side of her face like whiskers and several scars up higher on the left side of her body. This included two slashes that she knew would eventually decorate the left half of her chest and two more slashes that would decorate her stomach and hip on the right and a mirror of one of them on the right hip. Her legs had managed to come away unscathed beyond heavy bruising and a large scratch caused by her little revolver knocking into her while the Sea King was dying on her left.

Knowing that most of the crew and the village hadn't seen her even after she woke, she quickly flipped through her the dresses she had. Finding one with appropriate length sleeves she took it out and put on a pair of her purple thigh high socks to accent the colors she was wearing with it. Her purple sash was also withdrawn from her clothes chest and tied at her waist. Dressed, she concerned herself with the next most important part of her appearance once she got to the bathroom.

She took a brush to her hair and since most of her bedside watchers were men –it was a complete and utter mess and that was saying a lot considering she had known Hermione of Horrible Hairbrush Killing Hair. Wait, she didn't know any Hermione, much less one that had hair that killed hairbrushes outside of her dreams. How do you kill a hairbrush in the first place? Either way, she knew that it was likely clear of the sea water from the ice baths during the fever stage but that still didn't mean that she hadn't wet the hair with sweat and made it into a complete and utter mess. That's why she ran the brush under the water and brushed it through her short hair. It took far longer than it should have to get it back to a state that didn't scream of a bedraggled mess that was better lopped off than attempting to brush out.

Taking a nearby white bandanna she had folded it into a single band and brushed her choppy bangs back and tied the white bandanna like it was a headband. She leaned closer to the mirror. Going with the theory that because of the fever she was seeing her past life in what she remember of her dreams, she examined her 'new' face. She felt far more changed from just remembering what she did, but she knew that she didn't have the full picture. She found that her past life had marked her in some way that wasn't readily apparent but still all too visible -if a person knew and cared to look. Thankfully, she had no lightning bolt like scar on her brow. She felt a huge amount of irritation about anyone wanting to see her scars -and for no apparent reason that she could fathom. Ignoring the impulse to punch her fist into the mirror she closed her eyes and centered herself. She focused more on what she wanted -no, _needed _to do.

Suddenly, deciding to forcefully forget about her supposed past life -if it wasn't the product of a fevered mind taking information that she never knew she had and twisting it into such a story. She took a deep calming breath as she looked herself over again and judged her appearance. Happy that she looked 'innocent' enough she went to the bar for her own food, only to later get caught up in the celebration thrown once the pirates noticed that she was helping serve.

* * *

The celebration ended on a very somber note, as Shanks and crew would be leaving soon. Garp was due to show soon, and the new rubbery state of Luffy would be easily noticed even by someone as oblivious as Garp. That somber and bittersweet note wouldn't be heard or noticed, by anyone not in the know, but was easily apparent to those that frequented the bar while it was occupied by pirates. This would be a parting for a large number of years. Even so, both redheads enjoyed what time they had left before they were to part.

* * *

That night, and the last night before he Shanks left he sat at his daughter's bedside. "I never realized how trying and dangerous raising a kid was even when compared to pirating. You nearly caused my heart to leap out of my chest a number of times and had me nearly out of me mind with worry a number of more."

"I think that I'm the exception -not the rule." She confessed. "I've never quite counted as normal, nor have I really wanted to... I know that I'm not actively discriminated against, but there are a few that do so unconsciously -even to Luffy. I've always been driven to know things, and knew things -facts- about objects and things that I had never encountered or heard about before. It's why Mayor Woop Slap says I'm an old soul."

There, that was the closest that she'd ever confess to that -those odd dreams anyway. Apparently, there was quite the amount of bleed through of information that was contradictory to what she knew of the world she lived in. The truth she told her father was all wrapped up in misdirection and half-truths that it was somewhere between plausible and pure-bullshit with one or two honest truths. The truth was that staying here in East Blue, finding a man and taking over her mother's bar and having a couple of kids would be a normal person thing to do. They wouldn't research obscure myths, useful science, odd laws or study beasts that would sooner eat you than allow you to pet them. She could be content, but that was it at best. It was a truth that most people only unconsciously recognized. They treated both her and Luffy differently than others. Even people in Edgetown did, for her at least.

"An old soul?" Shanks pondered that statement and turned it over and around in his head. "That seems true to me as well. As cheerful and happy as you are, you carry around an aura of age." Shanks replied. Silence reigned for several long minutes.

"Tomorrow," Aki began as she attempted to place what she was feeling and knew bone-deep into coherency, "Luffy is going to say he wants to be King of the Pirates. He has a better chance than most. I know that I could possibly beat him there, maybe become the Pirate King before him, but I won't. I could but, ah, no. That's not a proper explanation of what I'm feeling either. Words fail me."

Shanks blinked in surprise. He thought about it and his first inclination was to brush off such a claim with laughter before he remembered exactly how fierce and protective over his crew the previous King was. With that kind of criteria in mind, he could see her as King of the Pirates. He could also see Luffy as King of the Pirates. He reminded him far too much of his captain for the image to not stay in his mind.

"I think that, no, feel that it could work, but I'll just be a silver to Gold, no Gol D. Roger and Luffy. I'm just not interested in ruling such a kingdom when there's other things that I feel that I should be doing. I'm not sure exactly what, but I'll do what I want and enjoy life until then."

Shanks could see what she meant about lacking a quality needed for being King of the Pirates. She was more prideful than he was, but they were both too easygoing and content with doing nothing when truly happy beyond enjoying the moment.

"I guess that's something of a family tradition isn't it?" She continued.

Shanks blinked as he realized that there was a knowing and wisdom in her eyes. Some innate quality that was all hers and entirely unique to her soul meant that should she ever choose to, she could be an equal to whoever became King next. It was scary to consider his daughter reaching the level of strength that he remembered Garp and Whitebeard having in their prime. His mind raced back over what he had said about his family to her and realized he had never spoken of what they did or do beyond the now -but she knew nonetheless. The mayor seemed like a wise man if he could tell that she held an old soul indeed. He reworked his earlier thought. Maybe she had a quality that the King of the Pirates needed to lack. Being a sensible and pragmatic person wasn't what his Captain was at all.

"Something like that." He replied quickly with a chuckle. He was getting somewhat used to being shocked by his daughter.

"Good night then, Papa. The next time I see you, you will be ruling part of the New World. Care to make sure that the island with all the fruit trees is under your rule? The name of it begins with a G. It's not too far out of the way of your territory. They'll make some really awesome rum by that time and it'll be home to a small little vineyard that makes a wine that the strongest swordsman in the world loves. We'll need it by then as it is going to be an interesting time when I first visit." Aki managed to babble out before a yawn interrupted her.

"Of course I will." He promised if slightly confused on where and which that particular island was. He kissed her forehead, and slowly wandered out of her room.

Akiyaki stiffened at that particular action, which went unnoticed. Reaching a hand up to her brow she in a very familiar action even in limbs that increasingly felt the sense of being an unfamiliar length felt her forehead. While she didn't feel anything indicating raised or irritated tissue she knew that the past life she had dreamed about while feverish had further marked her. It had to be. She wouldn't be so twitchy otherwise. That single and caring and cherished action had more or less ruined any chance of sleep she would have that night. So in revenge she called out. "Dad! You might want to discuss names with mom before you leave!"

"Names-?" Shanks choked again as he tripped and stumbled in the hallway as the implications hit him. It looked like he was a father again. That sort of news had the by-product of knocking other thoughts out of his head such as did his daughter truly have the observation haki on constantly or did she have a special gift like his captain did? He was more worried about if it was a boy or a girl and why wasn't he told before of this?

Shanks hit upon the answer soon after. The child -if there was one- would be due in about seven months and two weeks give or take a few days. Before he would leave anyway he and and the lovely Makino-chan had some more things to discuss.

* * *

Shanks, once on ship had a conversation with his first mate after Luffy had proclaimed his ambition and was given the hat. His daughter hadn't shown up that day, but she had already implied that she wouldn't.

"That kid's gonna be big." Benn said about Luffy.

"I know. He reminds me of my early years." Shanks snapped orders to his crew, while signaling to his smoking first mate to stay close.

"Captain? This about her?"

"She could easily become big too you know? She even has my old Captain's gift of understanding or something like it." Last night he had learned more about a women's cycle than he wanted to know -such as how stress and the amount of work done could affect it which is why Makino didn't know about her own pregnancy in the first place. It frankly astounded him that either his little girl was that perceptive of not only her surroundings but people too.

Benn made a garbled sound in his throat. That was an amusing sound.

"Yeah, I know. Surprised me too. Parenthood being more dangerous to my health than pirating. Hard to imagine that. My respect for Shirohige just went up quite a bit. Besides, it's not like we'll never see each other again." She had proven accurate about Luffy's new ambition and it wasn't like the two had a chance to plan it out -not that Luffy could follow a plan beyond simple directives and even that was bound to get messed up.

"She wouldn't even conceive of the idea, I figure. When I spoke to her after she woke, she showed signs of beginning to be able to use haki."

"If you're talking about the observation haki, I think she's gonna be having more trouble in figuring out how to turn that off. There are things a person doesn't want to know that can be observed with it." He knew that from experience. Rayleigh like the mean old man that he was, had him use it in the middle of an island's red light district.

"I was speaking more of the armament haki." His first mate corrected.

"Already?" Shanks asked surprised. "She's a smart girl. She'll figure out how to use it well enough without my help."

"She already has. That Sea King has a hole the size of my foot in its throat. Didn't puncture through the beast's hide but that was the killing blow. Do you think she'll go after One Piece?"

"She won't, but I'm pretty sure that she's going to cause her fair share of trouble." Shanks replied before he tossed that line off thought out of his head -if only to stop himself from jumping off ship and grounding his daughter until she died of old age for crimes not yet committed.

"Not for her own cause, but others-? Yeah. I can see that. Too much like her old man not to." Benn replied. Shanks noted that Benn was being far too happy considering that.

"Was that a compliment Benn! I do believe that you've grown soft!" Shanks replied in a teasing voice. He was angled in such a way that his crew couldn't notice the edge to his grin.

"I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for the day that both of you will be at sea." Benn replied in a rather far too relaxed manner. Whatever happened to him playing along and helping him confuse the newer members of the crew? It was rather fun. Ah, well, he was happy enough to know that he was back at sea where he belong, that his hat had found a new home and that he wasn't a complete failure as a father.

"Don't worry so much Benn! You'll go grey and that'll make me go grey and then I won't have red hair so I couldn't be Akagami Shanks and without the hair we would have to change the name to-"

"You've made your point, Captain." Benn pointed out. He waited a bit before saying, "You forgot to ask about that Ace kid again."

"Benn Beckman, you are a cruel cruel man. I however have a solution."

"That never bodes well." The rifle toting first mate replied. He could be such a kill joy at times.

"If he ever makes her cry or harms her in any fashion then not only will I put the fear of me above the fear of whatever deity's wrath he might follow but follow through with it."

"That's the father's job in the first place."

* * *

A/N: Benn is such an awesome first mate. I want him as my first mate if I ever go to sea.

1. Found this on the One Piece wiki. The blood types equate to A=X, B=F, O=S and AB=XF. Supposedly, blood types give an insight into personality. I suggest you google that because wiki doesn't have the info on which personality traits go with each blood type.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Chapter 6. This is not to be the one of the last of the childhood scenes. Beyond that, I'll warn that I will skip around in time for a while after this. Also the answers to the question of who's older Aki or Ace will be answered next chapter!

**1/17/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 6: A New Ambition!

Two weeks after Akagami Shanks and crew had left for good, Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp arrived for a visit. Aki adored the man as a person –even if he was crazy. However one guy that she sort of remembered from her dreams being even crazier was Luna's father –Xenophilius Lovegood. The Lovegood crazy and Garp's crazy were two completely types different types of crazy. As a teacher, and he had practically self-elected himself for the position and beat any other competition -quite literally unless like her father's crew, they weren't there when he was- the man however he left much to be desired. With her getting another perspective, she could see that Garp's methods while mad and insane, got results -the lessons did stick.

She supposed that he was sort of like that Hagrid guy –he had a different concept of what was dangerous than the majority of people and so tossed them into situations that were over their heads. He at least had the restraint to somewhat mitigate the lessons to their ages.

In comparison, the weapon lessons she had received from her father and his crew were really tame if informative and a bit hilarious at times. The sword lessons that came directly from him were some of the most basic sword lessons around such as how to hold a sword, how to swing, a few basic combos, how to block and some sword etiquette. She did take easier to the straight edge blades and those with curves at the end like cutlasses and sabers better than a katana-style blade. Her confusion about that had led to a lecture from her father's first mate.

According to Ben, Mihawk's sword while not looking a thing like a traditional katana was technically classified as one due to the curvature and the make of the blade as the blade had the signature katana curve in comparison to say a cutlass or a straight-edge blade. Lucky Roo then mentioned that Mihawk had the huge hilt and cross-guard as a way to throw people off and quite possibly as a balance for the blade. Usually such an oversized blade, was usually meant for those who were bigger than the average human and not just a little bigger but more of the nine to ten foot tall range. Mihawk was taller than average being 6' 6" but he was still a few inches shorter than Ben who was an inch shy of seven feet even (1).

Then again, if she remembered her dreams correctly she totally remembered Hagrid's pet Fluffy and his brother Gwap. Fluffy was an awesome three-headed hell hound also known as a cerberus. If she ever found one or was given one, however unlikely it might happen, she would name if Fluffy –just because. As for giants, she was pretty sure that actual giants were bigger than him and far less stupid. Her mind was obviously a freaky place. She usually wasn't that creative. Even three weeks after the tangle with the sea king her brain was still rattled. She still missed Ironbelly dragon that she had removed from the goblin bank although she knew she had never done that. If only her head would settle and be sane again!

It was still something of a surprise that the 'Hero of the People' was the one who paid out the bounty on Higuma to her. It was also _far_ more than what she expected it to be. From what she had learned, the World Government would usually issue it out to an account of choice or into an account that it could later be picked up from. Failure to do so after a period of a year would mean that all money in the account could be taken as well. Also it was to be seized if the person in question became a criminal or pirate. If a bounty was brought to a base, then the base would pay out what it could and possibly requisition more to be transferred to base to be paid out in full and still have enough liquid capital to get by. This option of course had several percentage based fees and other bureaucratic bullshit that progressively whittled down the amount in total. There was a surprisingly huge decrease if the bounty was brought in dead. It was a good thirty percent decrease! Further taxes based on the condition of the body and/or head. They tried to make certain it was the same person after all. If the corpse was unidentifiable, then you wouldn't be paid. It was as simple as that. Also implied was that if a corpse was going to be dragged into the exchange office, then you'd get hammered with a few more fees for the smell alone. So in total she was expecting to make only about sixty percent of Higuma's eight million bounty which figured to about five million give or take a few thousand. The five million alone would put her as the richest person in town, and would be far more money than she could ever earn farming in a small community, running a small-town business or other tame and somewhat expected career choices for a sedate community like Fuusha village. A good fifty thousand could set a person up for life, if they watched their spending and she could do it a hundred times over! Garp paid her in full. Being the daughter of a small business owner and being competent enough to do the accounts correctly without supervision and having a knack for mental math meant that she could now be set up for life a cool hundred and sixty times! The extra three million was rather awesome (2).

Then the Hero of the Marines gave her some more money for killing the Sea King to prevent it from eating Luffy. That however was only two million, the standard amount given to someone if they killed a dangerous sea creature like a sea king, especially if whoever killed a confirmed sea king. There were some finicky laws that basically boiled down to you don't get paid unless it was a known Sea King/monster and you were witnessed to have killed it by an official. The only reason that the amount was so low was because of the low number of people who could do such a thing and the fact that sea king meat was highly prized and valuable. Even a small sea king such as the one she had killed could feed a small village for a year easily (unless they had a few people with appetites like Luffy), or they could sell the meat and make easy millions.

There was a reason for him paying her in full, however and it wasn't just gratitude. He wanted her in the Marines. He had said with that grit and strength that she could go far. It's not that she didn't like the Marines as a concept with the whole 'We are Justice. Heroes to the People' that appealed to her, but one the other hand was that she had found her calling, she hated the uniforms, and she would be uncomfortable in all those restrictions and regulations on top of the slow disillusionment of any faith she had in any sort of government, authoritative position from those dreams and the fact that her father was a confirmed and rather infamous pirate. Garp had as much chance of convincing her to join the Marines as she did of convincing him to be a pirate. Nevertheless, she had no choice but to listen as it felt like her ribs were going to break as she was squeezed in his hug and she was pretty sure that her right ear was going to be ringing for a while, the man continued listing what he deemed to be the most important perks and benefits of joining the Marines. She was going to commit this appeal word for word with all the particular nuances of tone and emphasis on certain words just so that she could repeat it later.

Unfortunately she felt her usually suppressed and slumbering temper begin to rouse. Her having had a low-grade headache for the past few weeks and knowing more than what she should have wasn't any help. She pushed it back asleep with force of will -which would only work for maybe the rest of the day. Her father had never heard the story behind her first nickname of Hotaru, that she knew of and she didn't want to show why she had earned that nickname. Let him continue to think it involved an alternate spelling of her name and a nickname from that. It truly involved the mayor's house being set on fire when she was four. Apparently it wasn't the time she had nearly set something on fire or destroyed a few things. Eventually Garp stopped squeezing her to death –mostly because her mother had brought out his usual order of food and he was distracted by the food. The man could have at least set her down instead of dropping her!

It was sad that the bar had a standard operating procedure for Garp as most of the places he visited on a regular basis did, but Garp had been born here and his mother was here and from what she could tell from old small town gossip, his wife had been from here. Small town loyalty was a curious phenomena made up of community ties, blood ties and bonds of marriage and love. Nothing truly ever stayed secret and old women and a few old men could tell you the history of the place and stories of the people from those of their great-grandparent's generation to their youngest great-grandchild's first word. In a small town, there really was no such thing as privacy or secrets or fading into the background or anything like that. She might actually have to go digging into those stories or at least the town's records for information like that. Fuusha was a small town -there wasn't even a thousand people here!

Akiyaki had waited until she knew she had his full and_ serious_ attention. This was achieved by sitting across from him behind the bar after he had finished his meal –well most of it. As per usual operating procedure she had stolen a plate of his meal and placed it on some counter space area behind her. She then let him see it and she left the plate of food behind her. She lifted her right eyebrow, folding her arms and tapping her foot until the old man was focused solely on her.

"The marines go after pirates and other bounties if they come across them and can take them on –otherwise they're going to take heavy casualties which is something bad all around for a number of reasons. Marines are also given orders to maintain the peace in the locations they're posted in. They can't take independent action such as pursuit to take out those that would endanger innocent civilians without approval from above or disregarding previous orders. If the bounty is good enough then he or she can get away as there are plenty of Marines that are weak or useless in a fight and would slow the rest of those pursuing down. Even being in a pursuit and capture unit would still have weak members that I would have to protect and then I would have to rely on permission from above and orders no matter how much I want to. That's why I'll hunt bounties instead."

Garp frowned and thought. It wasn't something he was all that used to doing, but he had been married and knew when those of the female gender couldn't be persuaded otherwise. He was realizing that she couldn't be dissuaded and she knew more about what she was getting into than what he did. She was a clever and intelligent girl that way. So he had to relent on his efforts of making her be a Marine –for now. Unlike his grandsons, he also had no legal say over her and she did know more about what she was getting into than what those two idiot boys did about wanting to be pirates. Fuusha was remote and mostly disconnected from the world, but Makino's little girl had always been more worldly than the majority of the world's population would ever be. She had also killed a person. She had killed a sea king –at ten! Those were two things that he doubted that either of his grandsons would do for some time regardless of the age limit.

He was about to speak but was interrupted by a few regulars arrival. Through the hole he had left in the wall. The two farmers placed their orders and sat down at one of the tables to wait.

"Monkey D. Garp." Makino called from the kitchen, "The hole in the wall you made. Fix it."

That was the reason they and several other businesses had a standard operating procedure for Garp's visits. Aki reached down under the counter to pull up a small hammer, a box of nails and several wooden planks. These were placed into Garp's hands and she removed more wood from under the bar's counter to take to him to replace the broken pieces of wall with. This was something that had been done so often that Garp knew how to fix or replace the wall and could do so without supervision. It wasn't a pretty fix, or even a good one but it was only meant to be temporary until they could get that old man to fix it.

Thankfully Luffy came in soon after for his usual lunch. Akiyaki ignored the usual argument between the two relatives as she picked up Garp's empty dishes to take into the kitchen. She eavesdropped on the pair although it wasn't intentional. They were just that loud. Eventually Garp picked Luffy up with a declarative of taking him to Dadan's. Luffy said he wouldn't go but he really had no choice as he really couldn't reach anything to make his protests even the least bit effective. She'd have to speak with him about shifting his weight so that Luffy could hook onto Garp's arm and bite his wrists at the very least. Knowing Dadan's usual reactions to various problems shuffled upon her that she couldn't get rid of, she told Luffy to go have fun. Luffy replied that he would.

Then Garp went through the wall again. He didn't even have the decency to go through the bad patch.

She really had to wonder about Garp sometimes.

She would have gone but unfortunately she had a business to run and another hole in the wall to fix. Her mother was frequently dealing with morning sickness that didn't understand it should stick to the morning hours. At least the smell of food cooking didn't make her mother nauseous or else the food services of the bar would lag to unacceptable standards. It was only the thought of actually eating it.

* * *

Two weeks later her mother was mostly over her morning sickness and glowing with pregnancy. She was excited that she was going to be a big sister and dreading it at the same time also. She had never been such a thing before. There was an age difference between her, Ace and Sabo but they weren't related -thankfully. Luffy was something like a little brother to her when he wasn't the stupid pain in the ass he usually was. She really and truly hoped that her sibling wasn't like Luffy.

This day also marked the first time in a month that she was allowed out of Fuusha Village. She was only allowed out because of an order for alcohol. She immediately grabbed her custom knives and placed them at her back within their sheaths that were hidden by the sash. Her mother sent her to run alcohol to Dadan since she had sent one of her boys down the day before with the order and the money. Business was business and money was money even if it was from mountain bandits. That and they charged extra for delivery. Grabbing the first of two barrels that were the same size as Luffy, and then the second, she hoisted them on her back and walked quickly up a well-traveled path. Fuusha may be a forgotten little town in the Goa Kingdom but it was easily within a day's walk of the place provided you knew where you were going and could fight off the animals.

Meeting with Curly Dadan was the highlight of her day as they called each other various names each more creative than the last in what would later become known as the 'insult game.' Luffy had shown up in the middle and Akiyaki had improvised on why they were insulting each other. With an evil female smile she cajoled Dadan into joining her charade of friendship -something that left all the men confused since they were from a man's perspective about to try and tear the other to pieces.

They couldn't stand each other and would rather throttle the other before punting the bitch/brat down the nastiest cliff on this island before they'd get along but they would be polite to each other.

Men have their code. Women have their helpful guidelines.

Men don't do backstabbing. Women wait for the most opportune moment and will strike or stay their blade depending on numerous factors.

Men with power get along with other men in power, especially if they're on the same side. They usually even respect an honorable enemy as proven by Garp and Roger's deal about Ace which was something that _had_ to have happened. Since Ace's mum died in childbirth (something that had her worried about her mother) and no sane woman alive or dying would have left an infant in Garp's care if there wasn't something else mitigating a decision like that. Pain medication and too much love for a dead man -that explained quite a lot. Now, if only everyone else would use logic, the world would be a better place.

Women with power don't.

It's part of genetic survival instinct. Get power, prevent rivals with temporary unspoken and spoken alliances, and take out any threats to your power so that while you're pregnant you're safe. If your grip on power is shaky then take out any potential inheritor. It was sheer animalistic knowledge and instinct engraved into humanity in order to continue humanity.

Dadan and Akiyaki truly wanted to maul each other and had the abilities to do so but there wasn't any benefit in doing so and _that's why they didn't_.

Attacking each other beyond verbal abuse would have consequences that they didn't feel like paying. Akiyaki was the daughter of the town's darling and well-loved as well and Dadan had her fellow bandits and the mountain and creatures between her base and the town. They didn't feel like instigating a minor war which would bring in unnecessary outside attention because they couldn't stand each other.

So they were polite to each other even if they wanted to kill each other. Luffy was oblivious to this by-play but then again he was only seven still and of the male species.

Her and Dadan's main point of contention was absent, so she left a message for Ace in his bed, and then left to train and fight in the woods.

Dadan didn't like nor want her to befriend Ace as he was a 'wild child.' Even before she had remembered her past life -and she was slowly coming to terms with that, even if she was still pretty sure that all of that was pure bullshit nearly six weeks and numerous dreams later- she had stood up for him and continued to do so even after learning of his parentage –which considering that her father was still alive and thus infinitely more dangerous- wasn't all that relevant. That statement had just made her all the more protective of a guy that had all the friendliness of a feral tiger. Hence why they fought all the damn time over some stupid stuff like what a girl should or shouldn't do, stupid risk-taking, who was stronger, who was smarter, better-looking, the worth of whatever they had stolen or found or anything that could be fought over.

She spent a productive day of getting back into shape. Her muscles burned and ached, and a few scars were stretched but that wasn't anything that a nice bath couldn't cure. The bear on the other hand would need more than a nice bath. It needed skinning and cooked. She lifted an arm over her shoulder and dragged the bear's chest to over her back and walked to Dadan's to deposit it for Luffy's meals as she would be wanted back at the bar and Ace was busy with Sabo most likely doing something illegal or in the process of returning from doing something illegal. She however had to go. She had her own food at home after all and she was still technically grounded. It would be lifted after her birthday though. That was actually coming up soon.

* * *

The redhead girl woke up to her dark room. She had been getting more dreams about that girl that she had first seen in her fever dreams. She had been for nearly two months. They had been getting more and more detailed as night after night replayed them.

Her best friend and heart sister was a girl named Hermione. She remembered the joy of flying on a broom and her first match. She remembered life with her godchild. Her blood-kin's treatment of her. She remembered teaching. Her parents dying. She remembered her roommates and the slumber parties spent talking about boys, classes, fashion, magical theory and teachers. Dementors. She remembered taking ancient runes. Travesties and tragedies and madness for purity of blood. She remembered learning wandless magic. Of taking up arms. She remembered her darling moon. Making specialized weapons and war.

It was a lot of information that was adding up and was enough to give her a headache on top of the daily aggravation of knowing who had come into the bar while being out of it, or if they needed something made for them or just wanted to sit and drink. She was actually getting pretty competent about predicting who would order what -even the first time customers that rolled off of the latest ship to land in the harbor. The most annoying thing was that the memories from the dreams really weren't ordered chronologically in how she was receiving them and the clarity of various memories varied from one memory to the next.

What could she do to prove that she wasn't slowly going insane with all these thoughts of magic and creatures? Potions required a mix of animal and plant based ingredients usually and a number of them were just truly odd. She really didn't have enough information about runes at the moment to come up with something feasible. She had several runic schema in her mind but lacked the tools to do anything with that branch of magic.

What else could she do? Ah, once she had finally gotten old -not something a girl still ten considered ever really happening in any depth- and even some time before that she had become fairly capable of wandless magic. A couple of vague bits of information came to the forefront of her mind and told her that a few things wouldn't be possible with a ritual here and there or at her young age. The actual information was currently beyond her so she was left with an impression that it was vitally important that she not do so until she was grown. So she'd have to go to some of the most basic of the basic exercises she had developed, or the most basic abilities with wandless magic then.

Akiyaki brought up her hand and remembered what the dream girl did to create light from her hands. The first try failed. That wasn't quite right. However one try wasn't conclusive. She immersed herself in the memory of when she was first trying this exercise and had succeeded. She tried several more times with failure. She breathed out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes in an attempt to convince herself that she was not the dream girl's reincarnation. This wasn't much of a relief as it had to mean she was insane, right? Like truly brain broken to come up with this stuff. She hadn't previously known that she was that creative. It wasn't a much better prospect, but it was better than the well-meaning crazy idiot she had been that was masochistic enough to find a way to live life again.

She closed her eyes and massaged her temples while trying to sort out her mind and all the information it contained into something that made sense with varying results.

She tried again. And again. Focused more and tried again. If she did if right she could see the light even with her eyes closed. She knew that.

Two minutes later she opened her eyes to see that there was a twinkling light floating above her knee, emitting a blue-tinted light. She poked it with her finger, felt a slight resistance from the ball of light and it dimmed. Another poke had it flickering before it went out.

Overall, it was dimmer than what she remembered and more tiring than she recalled. She lied back in bed and let a few tears roll down her face in shock before she wiped her face on her pillow. It was proof. She was that shy girl's and later that rather crazy woman's reincarnation. Damn.

Aki knew that she really couldn't freak out and she shouldn't. The knowledge and experience was still there and could be used. She tried to figure out how best to work with this new knowledge and if it was applicable as a way to prevent a freak-out from occurring until she was tired enough to go to sleep after she stopped thinking. These dreams were playing havoc with her sleep schedule.

After finding a whole host of things that would be impossible without a wand and a few things that could be done she had one definite conclusion. The whole reincarnation thing would have been a hell of a lot easier if the worlds that they had experienced and knew were the same -just about everything was different!

The whole conflicting set of instincts for behavior was another story. People fell into patterns and habits. Small little unconscious ones, bad habits like smoking, particular routines and other things all the time. This includes how people _think_.

From what she could figure out, the other her was quite different from her in a number of ways -and she was shaping up to be quite a bit like her without the borrowing of memories, life experiences and what not -but it wasn't a perfect match like comparing chocolate cake to red velvet cake. Rather similar in base, different in texture and flavor with a different frosting.

It would have also been harder and easier if the unconscious direction and motivation that she had felt all of her life to be like wasn't shaping her into a half-remembered person. Some soul-mind dissonance. That explained why she was feeling off still. The soul remembering and the mind not being receptive to the information consciously. So she had been becoming the other person subconsciously like parents imitating a child.

She kicked a few times in frustration and nearly kicked her sheets off and felt the need to complain out loud. As it was still at least an hour before the sun was up, she was sure that no one else would hear.

"Why didn't I listen to the Padma? She was the one that mentioned different worlds and such for reincarnation. Here I thought that she meant like living in an animal's world or something (3)."

She blinked.

"Who's Padma?" Another blink. Another search of her mind for information that may or may not have been there. "Damn. I don't remember him, no it's, she's a her. Someone really needs to make a note that reincarnation is a messy and headache inducing business and pass it on. Now if only I can solve this other headache business that I've been having since the sea king ate me."

* * *

A/N; Chapter Six is done.

1. Mihawk's sword being a katana despite how it looks? Hell yes it is. Yoru is a katana style blade. As for Mihawk being six foot, six inches? All of this is on the One Piece wiki. The sword information is under the category One Piece wiki's 'swords' page and on the 'mythbusters' page in a section called 'misunderstandings and mistranslations.' Mihawk's height is in his profile. Strangely Shanks' and Benn's height is not reported so I'm having to guess based on various screen shoots for comparison so it could be wrong. So in this story, Shanks is 6' 5 and 1/2" and Ben is 6' 11". The is mostly due to the fact that most images of Shanks and other two usually has Shanks a few feet in front of the others or him sitting down or other things that would make the proportions off.

2. The whole 50,000 beri could set a person up for life? Mentioned in the East Blue Saga. It's why when the Strawhat crew steal the money/treasure from Moria (valued at 300,000,000 ), they consider themselves rich and rightly so. After all, Nami did steal most likely well over 100,000,000 for Arlong over eight years as some of that money would likely have been used to pay for her and her sister to continue living. However 'rich' can vary from person to person as being 'rich' is an issue of perception. A guy that's used to living paycheck to paycheck would consider those who make ends meet easier 'rich,' while those with six figure incomes could consider those who make ten figure incomes rich.

3. The cycle of reincarnation. Based on my own limited understanding of the belief system, a person soul can move closer or further away from becoming enlightened once they die depending on how well they follow(ed) the principals of Buddhism. Following Buddhism gets good karma points. Not doing so is bad, and nets bad karma points. If you do really bad you become an animal. Really good means reincarnation into a human who has the potential several reincarnations later to reach higher levels of existence and reach into the spiritual plane entirely. Eventually, being pious enough allows a person to escape the cycle of reincarnation, unless they decided not to in order to help out those that also suffer through the cycle.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Can't believe how well the story is falling into place. I also can't believe how long it is getting to be chapter wise. Because I usually draft at least ten chapters ahead of what I post… and yeah, it got up to the point it needed to be revised so that it would make a bit more sense and be better overall. I already said that. Damn. Revision is slow going. Also the question of who's older is finally answered.

**1/20/2013 Edit** story now contains more details, more characterization and less talking.

* * *

Chapter 7: The Burning of Trash

Two months after Luffy was first given into Dadan's care, Akiyaki was finally free of her grounding. She had also decided that her mother could be truly cruel beyond belief and was possibly the scariest person she had ever had the misfortune of pissing off. Then again, it could also be because her mother had some rather frightening mood swings lately. On Garp's return visit from dropping Luffy off at Dadan's she had tossed a cast iron frying pan into the Vice-Admiral's face in anger. Then she had burst into tears and said she missed Luffy. She then threatened that Luffy better be fine when she goes to check on the boy or she'd do far worse than a frying pan to the face. Garp was fine, the pan wasn't and her mother eventually calmed down.

An odd benefit of her grounding and being up at unholy hours because of her memories replaying in her head was that she had gained a few more feminine hobbies, the bar was never cleaner, her room was organized and she had even tackled the massive amount of stuff that was in the attic and storage into cleanliness. Part of that was because of the chores assigned to her in preparation for her sibling to have a room. Part of that was also because she was gaining her past life's intolerance to anything filthy when it didn't have to be.

She found it absurd that in her former life she had done a happy dance in private once she had gotten health and safety codes passed in the magical world. The next week was spent in supporting and helping those affected by the legislation get up to code. All it took was bout of self-induced food poisoning for her and several others at a popular wizarding restaurant. Her friend Hannah used the time and money to update the Leaky to something more modern than medieval. It was a success that was celebrated with fine wine, dinner with friends and family that turned into a raucous party and a much needed date with a romantic novel and bubble bath. It would have been celebrated with getting laid but her former self had the deeply ingrained reflexes which had been passed on in part -she had also found few and far in between managed to meet her standards for her to consider dating. If they did, like Neville eventually did, they were already taken. That and being tossed through the wall from reflex or dealing with nightmares wore on the relationship. Nothing to ruin the mood faster than that it seemed.

Her and her former self were similar, such as the tendency to rise with the sun but Akiyaki had a much firmer control over her temper than her previous self. Tantrums from before she was five were destructive enough and didn't count, even if she did burn Mayor Woop Slap's house down when she was four. She maintained that it was an accident.

As was her usual unusual entry to Edge Town she skirted around Gray Terminal. The tract of land was huge and extended her journey greatly, but it was worth it as she wasn't identified as 'trash' by the majority of Edge Town. High Town was a different story, as everyone not born noble was trash, but sometimes useful from a noble's perspective. Those that lived in High Town considered those that lived or worked in Gray Terminal as less than human. It was a disgusting place because of that and made her wish that she could place a curse similar to what Riddle did on the position of defense professor. She wasn't old enough to do so –yet. It did however have its uses, like the library.

High Town had a few different rules as the nobles were there but a number of wealthy individuals or otherwise successful people lived in High Town. So not everyone could afford private tutors or a massive library or want a library depending on the person's circumstances. Nobles weren't seen there or if they were –very rarely. Occasionally they'd send a servant to get the book they required or whatever but the library was a place where people who were interested in reading or learning could gather. The basement was often used as something akin to a school for those who had children and were wealthy enough to live in High Town to educate their children. The material learnt was rather haphazard in how it was taught as there wasn't an established curriculum and the students were diverse in age and circumstance.

A quick meeting with the librarian and his fellow bibliophiles landed her with seventeen useful 'new' books about various things after she had assured them that she was fine and had only been gone for so long because of family issues and she had gotten sick which was true enough. Three of the seventeen books were cook books; one book held embroidery patterns and instructions on how to do them, two more were history books, another pair were journals of the Grand Line and the rest were science educational and covered the fields of chemistry, physics, biology, medicine and engineering. From her past life she knew astronomy but the stars here were different so she got a blank book so she could make a map of the night sky for East Blue -she'd need to get a half decent telescope in the future sometime.

Then she had eleven more books that were mostly useless. Stupid romance novels were addicting even if they had something that could only vaguely be called a plot. Sometimes though, the stupid romance novels did have interesting bits and pieces of facts. The majority of the books were put carefully in her book bag. One was kept in her hand and in front of her face.

She worked her way in and out of crowds like a pro. Even with her fire bright hair and white dress and bright accessories, she managed to look like she was a native of High Town despite the fact that she wasn't.

She listened into the bits and pieces of gossip as she walked towards her favorite café. A high ranking noble family had adopted another noble boy of only slightly higher rank after their son went missing some years ago. There was some scandal about someone consorting with someone's very married sister. Nothing all that unusual.

She ordered her usual order and truly dug into her shorter novel that she had chosen to read. It was a short hour later that she had finished the book. It was annoying that the plot now was a load of tripe and she knew it. There was a sad lack of actual decent fiction in the world. With that, Aki sighed, packed up her books and crept into Edge Town. Once in Edge Town she left and took the long way around Gray Terminal to Fuusha village. She only had to smack a giant spider down and stab it with her blades and discourage a snake from biting her –and it was weird that the snake which she had named Sally understood her and she understood him. It was probably another error from that final ritual. Some sort of bleed over from the fact that she had carried Voldemort's horcrux for years or something.

* * *

Once back home she deposited the books in her room and changed into clothing that she wouldn't mind getting filthy or torn. She also wiped off the make-up on her check covering up the twin scars on her left cheek. She then went up to where she knew Ace would be about this time of day with a stop to pick up a metal pipe she had cached on the way. She quickly found him and Sabo.

Their trail was only as clear as day from her favored method of travel in the jungle –the canopy highway.

"Oi!" The redhead called out.

The two boys looked her way and noticed that she was out of her usual 'girly' dress and boot combo and in her tank, shorts and sandals. The shorts she had were stolen off of Ace some time ago. Her hair was pulled into a short ponytail at her nape and the bandana was being worn on her head properly. She was also carrying a familiar metal pipe to the two boys that were about the same age as her. They also noted an impressive amount of scars that she didn't have the last time decorating her arms.

"You're back Red!" Sabo declared.

"Yeah. For a while. I kept missing Ace and Luffy isn't the best guy to pass on a message with." She replied from her perch on one of the tree's lower branches. Ace knew of her and Dadan's dislike of each other. It wasn't that hard to figure out. So using Dadan to pass a message on was out of the question. He just didn't know why other than her explanation of it being a female thing –but he took it in stride.

"Crybaby can't take a damn hint." Ace declared. "What happened to you?"

Ah, so Ace was worried and Luffy probably didn't make it any better.

"Luffy mouthed off to a mountain bandit –not Dadan- and the visiting pirates took out the bandit gang. The lead bandit kidnapped both Luffy and I and then took us out to sea on a shitty boat like the ignorant ass he was, and tossed Lu-lu into the water. Meanwhile, I take care of the bandit and then a sea king comes to eat us both and somewhat succeeds. I get ate, Luffy gets saved by the pirate captain and then I kill the sea king from inside and have to swim back. The mountain band had a bounty. Got paid for the bounty too, all 8,000,000 beli of it. Not much really for a good and proper ship."

"Wow! A sea king! That's amazing!" Sabo exclaimed. Aki had always considered Sabo to be the one that was easier to impress of the duo.

"How'd you get the scars?" Ace demanded.

Akiyaki ignored the fact that they were more interested in the story than the money. Typical of boys. They didn't really learn the value of long-term planning or keeping options open until way later or sometimes never. At least they were saving up to buy a ship.

"I was further down the throat than the boat remains and that sucked. Nearly died. Mom wouldn't let me out of her sight for ages. The bar shines from being so damn clean."

She didn't mention her lack of proper sleep. She had taken to getting a short nap in the afternoon, and it wasn't even noon yet. The canopy highway of the jungle allowed for somewhat quicker and safer travel than on the ground. She usually visited Goa before noon as someone who was somewhat respectable. The afternoon and evening was spent in less respectable endeavors. Often these were illegal and could last for most of the night. Traversing the jungle at night was not the sanest option nor was scaling the walls of the town, now that she really thought about it.

"Ouch." Sabo replied. Living in Gray Terminal taught someone to respect cleanliness and some form of basic hygiene. You were less likely to die that way and not get tossed out on your ass 'cause you smelled like garbage. To get something to shine there took a whole lot of effort so he was probably over imagining the amount of effort it took. He really needed to visit the bar –especially now that the holes in the wall from Garp were fixed.

"It's 'cause I have a new little sibling on the way." She teased the two of them. "That makes two little brothers that I have. Maybe three."

"Hey! I'm oldest!" Ace proclaimed.

"That depends, Ace. Do we know who's older?" Sabo asked.

"I was ten at the first of January." Ace replied.

"Turned ten on March 20th." Sabo announced.

"February 14th, I turned eleven." Aki commented brightly.

"But you were four when I was four so we're the same age!" Ace commented.

"And then I turned five three weeks after Garp introduced us!" Akiyaki left off the fact that they had tussled, Ace had won from sheer brute strength but he had an impressive shiner and a bite to his arm and a few claw marks.

"But that doesn't make sense!"

"Yes it does!"

"So you're an old lady!" Sabo declared, immediately defusing the current argument between Ace and Aki.

"I'll show you old!" Aki declared as she cracked her knuckles.

For a while the trio enjoyed their usual banter and violent play, with the explanation of the 'insult game' that she and Dadan had 'invented' as Luffy's explanation of it was utter nonsense and stories of what each of them had been up to while she was grounded. As expected, Sabo and Ace fought some more people, stole from people and been hunting.

"Hey, Red?" Sabo asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why were you further down the Sea King's throat? It was one of the little fishing boats that the bandit took you out on right?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"I think he wants to know how come you were in the sea king's stomach in order to get cut up by the wood. I'd like to know that now myself." Ace interjected.

"The best of bad options is how. I might have jumped in its mouth so that I wouldn't get chomped." She explained casually.

"You-!" Ace replied. He was clearly at a loss of words. Sabo's jaw had yet to get itself off of the floor.

"Lecture later. It's done and over with. Learned from it too. Now, you guys said something about a spar?"

"We'll go our usual rules." Ace replied with anger seething.

"Yeah, yeah. We're going to get our asses kicked even if she's out of practice. Damn her for being older." Sabo commented as he readied his pipe.

"Gotta pound tactics into your head somehow, it's my job as the oldest right? I've got a couple of books that will interest you two if you guys at least win over half the spars."

"Which kind of books?" Ace asked in his usual abrupt manner.

"Some science books on chemistry and engineering. They didn't have anything on navigating that I didn't already have. Got a blank book so that I could put down stars and such so that we could learn how to navigate at night as well as plot a course by the stars. Lastly is a pair of journals that detail part of the Grand Line." She knew she got the pair there.

Their spars were interesting matches. They had long since developed something of a system when it came to the one being fought. The attacker after a loss or win would hang back and refresh for the next round he was in. The defender didn't get a break. It was for endurance and learning to conserve stamina. Her increased knowledge of her past life allowed her to maintain a wider and better battle awareness than the two boys and thus allowed her to take advantage of the terrain. She had four basic tenants for fighting.

Know yourself.

Know the enemy.

Know the world.

The last tenant was fight.

Simple and basic ideas, which encompassed a large amount of what allowed her to win a majority of her spars with Sabo and Ace, even though some matches were more closely contested than others.

Ace usually won more than Sabo but usually only because he had monstrous strength on his side and had managed to pin her down. Trees usually needed to be hit with axes in order to be turned into traps or firewood -not a metal pipe. She was a speed fighter. Sabo was a balanced fighter. Ace was a power fighter.

* * *

She had somehow again managed to miss the excitement of a month later when Luffy had been captured and tortured while Ace and Sabo moved their treasure. She had also missed when they had made enemies of the Bluejam Pirates. Those pirates were only allowed out and about, because they had the favor of the Goa nobility for some damn reason. She needed to visit High Town soon to find out why.

Sabo moved in with Dadan and the bandits, which meant that soon after he met her mother when she had brought up some new clothes for the boys. A number of women were jealous of the fact that several months into her pregnancy Makino was barely showing.

She didn't however miss the next few months as she spent most of every week with them. She eventually helped them build their tree fort with enough room for something resembling proper beds and convinced the boys to have multiple stashes for their treasure. Her own funds were stashed in three different places. It just took a few concussions to convince the two ten year old boys of that. As the two boys had been gathering their funds by theft since they were five they had more than her. That and they didn't spend about half of it on books, ammo and weapons.

* * *

As per usual, she had managed to miss the drama of Ace being Roger's son being revealed to Luffy. Her reaction to Luffy yelling the news to her was, "So what?"

Sabo and Ace were flummoxed at such a reaction.

"How are you taking this so calmly?" Sabo eventually croaked out.

"Ah, that. I've known for years that Ace was Roger's son. Dadan tried to use that as way to drive me away. Besides, all Roger is now is an infamous dead pirate, King or not, and there are legions of those. Besides, Ace isn't the only kid ever born of pirate-stock. His parents are dead, which makes them infinitely less dangerous than those born of pirate-stock that have living parents. Don't you think?"

"I guess that's true." Ace admitted.

"I don't get it." Luffy replied.

"Typical." She replied before she launched into a lecture. Damn those years of being a teacher that she remembered. "Well, the dead only have a few ways to get back at people and they're usually quite limited. Ghosts are usually just stuck in the past but they have a lot of mobility and the ability to posses people. They also make it cold around them. Poltergeists range from annoying to dangerous depending on their power, and they're usually tied to one place. Destroy it and you destroy them. You get the idea right?"

"The dead are stuck in one place and so can't get the living?" Luffy asked.

"Something like that. I guess ghosts would be interesting to talk to. They could have been around for ages and met someone really interesting or know where some treasure might be if you could convince them to part with it."

"Cool!"

"Yes, cool. However that's totally different from zombies. Zombies are walking and possibly decaying corpses, but a concentrated amount of seasalt or fire takes care of them as well as beheading them and they're not that intelligent. That's because with zombies it's just the body being used a guy that's typically evil and is known as a necromancer."

"If he's evil, can I beat him up?" Luffy asked.

"When you're older, if you can find him and are on your own with your crew as a pirate. Mom says that you're not allowed to be a pirate until you're older and I say you can't before you're seventeen."

"But that's too far away."

"But it'll give you plenty of time to get strong so you can beat the necromancer guy up."

"Awesome!"

"Red?"

"Huh?"

"Where did you learn this stuff?" Ace asked.

"It's amazing what can be learned through reading."

"You've passed on a number of your books to us and none of them had that stuff in it." Sabo replied.

"That's because I don't pass on the romance novels. I learned how to pick locks and properly break-in and rob a place blind from them too."

Silence reigned for a moment.

"You're kidding right?" Ace eventually asked.

"Should I be?" She asked back.

* * *

Eventually she gave up her previous knives that she had before her eleventh birthday were expensive because they were good steel even if they were more suited to use in the kitchen. They had been passed onto Sabo and Ace. The boys still had their trusty metal pipes and were good with them, as was she but the knives were for just in case. Luffy hadn't yet been declared responsible enough to have a knife again.

This was because she had finally grown comfortable with her new ones from her father.

Once Sabo had moved in with his other two 'brothers', she had become a far more frequent visitor to the forest. Once the boys had moved out into their hideout she was a daily visitor who joined in with them. Her mother joined her frequently on the trek to Dadan's just because her mother being pregnant was feeling extra motherly and the boys clearly needed a good maternal influence. Dadan might have had a maternal bone or two in her body once but they were clearly broken at one point and never healed right. She cared about the boys but she didn't provide more than the most basic necessities.

To keep people who visited Fuusha from various ships from making a connection between her and her mother she changed her outfit and wore her bandana differently. She wore shorts that were loose and sort of dress-like as they weren't gathered at the knees, sandals and a tank top to show off all her scars. She also acted more like a boy. She still hated people staring at them, but she knew that they would have stared more if they thought she was a girl. The world was full of double-standards like that.

This was in comparison to her new regular attire at the bar which had her usual white dresses newly altered with the sleeves made of lace that reached down far enough to cover her hands but not her fingers.

She really was that bored during the time of her grounding. Lace was time-consuming to make by hand but it had a really pretty pattern. It was probably excessively paranoid but she was reveling in the freedom she had of wearing what she wanted and it wasn't truly paranoia but constant vigilance!

Both of her outfits had a sash around her waist, and a bandana but she wore it over her forehead when she was with the boys and like a headband at the bar. It was safe to say that when she was with the boys she was a complete and utter tom-boy and when at home or the bar, she was a girly-girl. To the point of covering up the two vibrant scars on her left cheek with stolen concealer.

She had slowed down on her visits a few weeks before and after her sibling was born and had been visited by her boys quite often while she was helping her mother out -although all of them were there when her mother was in labor. They all adored that child even if they had all sported injuries after she was born. The boys also didn't have to change the diaper or feed the baby at all hours of the night. It was after Ace turned eleven at the New Year that the boys ran into Sabo's father and Sabo was retrieved by his father –something that she had heard about from Ace and Luffy who had actually gone to an adult to try and figure out a way to get Sabo back only to get their hopes shot down.

It was time to take things into her own hands then.

* * *

Having long since gotten her mother accustomed to having her being gone for the night and sometimes days at a time she snuck out to see Sabo. She unlike the boys was familiar with High Town and its citizenry however much she wanted to kill them for being so damn prejudiced. Here she had thought that the purebloods were bad in her past life. So it was child's play to find Sabo's place, and scope it out to break him out if need be. It didn't prove necessary as he broke himself out but a well-aimed rock broke his adopted brother's nose. Sabo quickly informed her of what was going to happen to Gray Terminal. She ran with him to the gate.

Gray Terminal was already on fire. She wasn't fond of the place because she was a girl and young and pretty and the place was lawless. It also stank and had small fires going on anyway because of the heat of the decomposing trash and the sun making the trash reach burning point. She usually avoided the place and the people inhabiting it.

At the gates she and Sabo met a large man with red tribal tattoos on the side of his face. Sabo's declaration of hating being born to nobles struck a nerve in the man somehow. He seemed familiar. She heard another voice with an accent call out his name.

Dragon.

Odd name, was her first thought. Her second was, that Dragon?

Like the name of Luffy's dad.

She probably shouldn't remember back to when she was three and Luffy was brought to Fuusha but the name did show up on the village's registry as Garp's son. It was a bit more surprising that he was alive and clearly doing something illegal if it was the same Dragon. She had thought the man dead. Thanks be to whatever gods existed and various magical saints that she had eventually mastered occulmency and was in the process of re-mastering it. It allowed her to keep a straight face. It was helpful that way. At least he had the sense not to bring an infant along with whatever he was doing, although it could be argued that Garp wasn't that much better.

"Sabo." She said. "We can't get out through the gate and the other places I know of are probably also cut off. If you stay here then you'll get captured by your family again."

"I know! But-!"

"Soldiers are manning the gate. You can't climb like I can, up and over. Those pirates were probably betrayed. They'll be pissed. Knowing Ace and Luffy, they'll be in the thick of it too. However we need to get out of here. The Tenryubito will be here tomorrow and your family will have you again if we're not out."

"I know that! Ace! Luffy!"

"Will be fine. Somehow. They're not gonna die in a trash heap by some pathetic pirate's hand. Guy doesn't even have a decent bounty. We however will not be going there. Our objective is to get out and regroup."

"How do you plan to do that Red?"

"I wonder… with the fire, there should be some excellent thermals. The walls are tall enough as well but we have to get a few things to make that work..." She muttered. "Sabo, what do you think about flying?"

"What!" He asked. "That's a random thing to ask!"

"Mr. Revolutionary, can I borrow your cloak? We're going to use it to fly blond-boy here over the walls."

"Red, HAVE YOU GONE MAD?"

The revolutionary known as Dragon smirked and pulled off his voluminous cloak as if to hand it over to the two kids. "How are you going to get up the walls, Red, wasn't it?"

"Climb them. Done it 'afore a couple of times. Since Sabo hasn't, I'll have to give him a lift -piggyback style even if Sabo here won't like it." A tilt of the head allowed her a better look at Dragon's face. "Luffy looks more takes more of his face from his mother doesn't he?" A twitch betrayed his connection to Luffy. Same Dragon then. Now to take a page from Luna's playbook. "By the way, do you know why piggyback lift is called piggyback? 'Cause I don't and want to know."

"What? This is not a time for RANDOM QUESTIONS LIKE THAT!" Sabo declared.

She sighed and waved off his concerns.

"You really need to learn how to relax, Sabo. It's not good for your health you know. Besides, the outer wall is easier compared to High Town's. Where else do you think I was getting my books from as to get into High Town through its gate I'd need to be a resident to pass through?"

"Eh. Edge Town?" Sabo guessed.

"Of that quality? Your observation skills need work or you need glasses. Whatever. We still need to hurry before your damn father gets here."

"Didn't you just tell me to relax?"

"Yes. Yes, I did. Doesn't change facts but it does change how you interpret them."

"Red, you're crazy."

"Go on children and fly free of this corrupted place!" Dragon placed his cloak in her hands. "Watch over your friends and stay true to them!"

"Duh." She replied, not sure if it was to Sabo's comment or Dragon's advice. "Nice thread count, by the way." She said, complimenting the man on his cloak. "Sabo, the port guard should be light since it looks like all of them are around here unless they've brought out their reserve members but they usually don't do that unless I rob someplace blind in High Town and they up security. I'll climb up the wall with you on my back, and we'll run on the wall until we get close to the fire and ride the thermals away -or you will. I know how to climb these after all and we'll have to find a place to climb that I'm not likely to be at for climbing since we can't hang out in a few of my usual spots as they're otherwise unavailable due to the visitation by the Tenryubito. We'll have to leave your hat somewhere down here though so that they'll stop pursuing you."

"Ah. This plan has a high chance of us dying or breaking something. You know that right?" Sabo asked nervously.

"Got a better one?"

"Nope. Let's go for it!"

* * *

And they did. It wasn't without some hitches here and there. They had to ditch Sabo's hat, and then hide and wait for Sabo's father to leave the area they were in. Sabo was heavier than she thought, and the port wall more guarded. They did get really damn close to the fire at one point after he had landed. The fire had spread faster in the canopy and the crown of a tree on fire had almost flattened them. It was also a pain to find a way to and through the forest, but they managed to make it to the river. From the river it was easy enough to get to a clearing to rest and then head to Dadan's to wait for Ace to show.

"Sabo." Akiyaki said as they waited on the roof of Dadan's home. "As a guy who has cut all ties with his previous life, don't you think that you need a new name? Be reborn as who you want to be instead of the son of a noble-jackass and status-clinging heifer?"

"I dunno. I'll think about it and discuss it with Ace once he gets back. Got a suggestion?"

"Just an idea." Akiyaki replied, thinking about the stories of the courtship between great-grandparents she had never met.

An hour past as they waited on Dadan's roof and the sun rose ever higher.

"So what are you going to do with that cloak?" Sabo asked.

"I was thinking of giving it to Luffy to use as a blanket." She replied.

"It's going to get ripped or damaged eventually. Luffy's not the most careful around."

"Then I'll turn it into a quilt." She replied.

"And if you ever run into that guy again and he wants his cloak back?"

"I'll give him the quilt." She said matter-of-factly.

"…you're so weird."

"I'm saving up to be eccentric. By the way, someone's coming this way. The birds are moving." She pointed out.

"Ace?"

"Let's go see."

The two jumped from Dadan's roof.

* * *

A/N: A few more tweaks to cannon. Then some time skips where I'll jump around the time line some. Sabo lives!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Seriously I don't understand how easy it is for this story to fall into place so easy as most of the characters are behaving. What is going to be harder is the personal arcs that I have no canon for and the twists for the HP-personal arcs. Those will answer any damn questions later that will pop up –and they will. Makes me wonder how I can improve if no one comments on my mistakes or anything... also beware –this chapter is something of an information dump –and contains science.

**1/20/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 8: Time Flies

Ace had returned that morning with Dadan. She and Sabo had intercepted Ace on the path and the three of them had quickly dragged Dadan into her bed and let her bandit gang fuss over her while the old hag was recovering.

Akiyaki had kept the cloak that had transported Sabo safely over the walls. It would stay with her for a while more –until it was washed and maybe embroidered. But what kinds of dragons should she embroider on it? The short-snout, the fireball, Norberta or the Horntail? Maybe all of them? Then she'd give it to Luffy as a blanket.

As for Sabo's escape over the walls, it was unlikely that such a stunt would ever work again as they had a decided lack of hot air to help counteract Sabo's weight and her shaky grasp on wandless magic. She had worked more on the feather-weight than she had wanted to admit to if only because levitation was meant to be used with a wand -designed to be. The only reason he hadn't broken his legs from such a height was because he had managed to catch the cloak on a tree limb and proceeded from there on foot with the cloak shoved in her hands as soon as she reached him. The stone walls were surprisingly good at conducting heat so she had to go a bit further around than she had wanted.

Sabo was believed to be dead by his parents. He was –for secrecy reasons promptly- banned from entering Gray Terminal, much less Edge Town ever again. Part of Sabo's and Ace's treasure was burnt and smelted from the heat but it wasn't a complete loss. This she knew from sneaking back into Edge Town through her typical way –over the now cooling wall. This was mostly a way for her to survey the town and see what was what –and watch the reason behind setting up such a massacre as the fire up in the first place.

* * *

The visit of the Tenryubito to Goa meant that the nobles had burnt Grey Terminal to the ground so that they could remain the 'Cleanest Kingdom.' As disgusting and amoral the people of Grey Terminal were –they were still people.

The entire spectacle was disgusting. A fat man wearing what looked like a white space suit like thing with a glass bubble over it carrying a highly ornate but still functional weapon was being lauded for living and praised for visiting. A large number of people fell to their knees while he passed like he was something great.

This wasn't accounting for the fact that his weapon had blown up a few fishing boats for some damn reason –destroying their livelihood most likely for the sole reason that she had later found out was nothing more than considering those fishing ships eyesores- and had his guards kidnap a few people and he or they killed any that protested that.

It made her wish for a proper sniper rifle instead of an eyeglass to shoot him with or a way to curse him that she could accomplish at eleven –even though her knowledge was that of someone far older and wide-ranging in their study. Not just a spell meant for harm like the bone-breaker but a proper curse on him, his line and all those who were kin with him. She even knew the curse she would use too –the three fold curse. It was better known in India as the 'Curse of Karma.' Do good and good things happen. Do bad and bad things happen. Three fold.

As she couldn't do anything but seethe and watch from her perch on the rooftops –she seethed and watched as 'His Holiness' was escorted to High Town.

After the Tenryubito had reached High Town, the gathered crowed had broken up and things went on as normal –except for those who died, were taken as slaves or who just lost their livelihood who would soon become new residents of the streets and later Gray Terminal.

* * *

She did a few days later eventually manage to find Sabo a replacement hat however. She also found a hat for Ace as well. Both were black, but they suited the two growing boys well. Sabo's was a top hat of a very similar make to his last, but she hadn't found him replacement goggles that were also lost with his hat.

Ace got a cowboy hat. She had no idea if it was Stetson or 10-gallon hat but it was a classic cowboy hat that was black for when he needed to be serious or mysterious. She also told Ace about the orange hat also in the store –and why was orange Ace's favorite color of all things? Then again, she had no room to talk as she preferred burgundy and indigo for rich colors accented by gold or mostly neutral colors like white, brown or black accented with other brighter colors. That orange hat was the same type as the black cowboy hat she had bought for him. He'd consider it pity if she had bought him both and the orange cowboy hat she had no doubt Ace would love but it needed something else and she had no idea what it was but he would. How she knew that she didn't know, but she did. She considered getting a hat for herself but she couldn't find one herself that she liked and suited her in the shop. In the meantime she'd stick with her bandanna.

When asked by the 'brothers' for why she didn't buy herself a hat, she had quickly borrowed Luffy's straw-hat without a care about retaliation. She dodged his attempt at a stretching punch, laughing all the way.

Luffy had yet to win against either Sabo or Ace. Those two had yet to truly win against her in the past few months by their sparring system. They had upped the amount of times they sparred daily to fifty each after she had told them what she had witnessed in town –combined with the fact that Garp would probably visit soon and being able to beat him would mean he'd less likely to beat them senseless in the guise of 'training.' Garp was all the motivation the boys needed but them knowing what she said about the Tenryubito would stick with them for a while. At least until youth convinced them of invincibility again. She was remarkably cynical about such things.

She also had told them all about what she had witnessed in that visit -all that power wielded and given just because one of his ancestors along with nineteen others created the World Government. That the World Government and the marines all supported such twisted individuals made her go ick –especially once she did some mental math about how inbred they were or had to be –and realized some awful truths about them.

Knowledge of her past life's father's side of the family tree showed that it was possible to keep a functional population that was chronically inbreed. Pureblood family trees were less of trees and more of a nest of brambles. Her Hermione-inspired research later, after Voldemort's second and final rise, with Susan giving her input as a magical healer and her own research in the muggle world with the various geneticists and everyone in the Human Genome Project that she became involved in gave her enough background to understand the issues or problems with the Tenryubito –and it would fly over everyone's head if she tried to explain it. So she didn't even bother.

Formal education about things like biology didn't happen here. Biology to the common person was how best to grow this, where to catch this, how to farm this, how to do this so you don't pull a muscle and a guy ejaculates into a woman's pussy and depending on luck, she'd have a child and you a brat nine months later. Biology to someone who researched this stuff was different. The human body was a highly regulated piece of natural engineering that was remarkably strong and fragile at the same time. Mess with the right genes and suddenly you have someone dying or suffering from a genetic disease or numerous other effects –which explained a lot about the Tenryubito.

Oh, they were careful enough to not get in bed with their sister or mother but a cousin had to happen eventually –especially once they got the idea that they were all privileged and sainted for being born to such a distinguished lineage and everyone followed along with it. They must have still personally been strong enough to force most people to go along with it at the time -and then it was tradition. Considering the amount of close-kin inbreeding, it was possible to sustain such a population for over eight-hundred years (even considering the possible bastards that weren't really accepted but still highly privileged bastards and the dallying outside the marriage bed that probably happened but wasn't ever mentioned). Dirty secrets happen like that everywhere.

It also explained many quirks and why they didn't breathe 'commoner air.' They were a chronically inbred population. The average person carried a number of lethal recessives. Cull them out to keep the 'good' blood in the population over centuries and you'd weed a large number of them out. Sure they probably had less lethal recessive genes than the average person, but they were probably a bit immune compromised to a number of illnesses that would knock the average person down for a day or two but possibly kill them. A number of viruses integrated into human DNA. About half of the human genome was viral. It gave immunity or resistance to most of them (1). Also there was the matter of mutations caused by and kept in the large 'family' by inbreeding. Mental retardation of some sort was the most common, but sociopaths and psychopaths could also happen along with depression and numerous mental illnesses like bi-polar disorder. Then there were the physical defects that could crop up, but they probably managed themselves well enough for those to rarely happen.

They were a chronically inbred population –not necessarily stupid but inbred nonetheless. A number of wizards proved this quite well such as Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy or the Ancient and Noble house of Black were good examples. Voldemort was a twisted individual –of that there was no doubt- but he was also brilliant before his insanity got to him and consumed him and all that brilliance. If Voldemort was sane, then he would have had the world in his hand –and no one would even suspect it. Lucius Malfoy was a canny bastard to catch at doing anything illegal and was damn good at using any resources at his disposal –even if he considered some options to be crass and tasteless like sending werewolves after her. Sirius and Regulus –both of whom were above-average wizards in intelligence, ability and looks were born to parents who were blood-kin cousins. It was 'ick' to consider but true nonetheless (2).

An inbred lineage didn't automatically make them worthy of respect. In both this life and her past one she believed that respect had to be earned, not given and there were different types of respect. Respect for ability, age, knowledge, personal character and beliefs. She respected Garp's military record and fighting ability, admired his personal ideals and his dedication to his beliefs but hated him as any type of parental figure. The man just wasn't cut out for it at all.

Those Tenryubito were worse than the purebloods that she remembered. They didn't consider themselves too good to breathe the same as mud-bloods after all nor did they take people off the streets and away from their families to become servants. Hermione, if she was here would become another Fisher Tiger –of that there was no doubt. She got into Gryffindor for a reason –she'd research what could or should be done, decide if it was doable or not and act on the plan most likely to work. The only issue was her faith in authority –something that living in this world for a few months in the right place would fix or kill her. Then again, Aki admitted, she was always the more blood thirsty and 'crush my enemies' of that pair. Hermione was more apt to spark a riot or smuggling because she was nice like that.

Still when a single person could call down on the might of the World Government for refusing them, you only had one thing to do –get strong enough to resist the power of the World Government. So she sparred with the 'brothers' and trained everything she could at any possible time. She wasn't quite obsessive in her training as Hermione was about studying, but she remembered enough from her past life to know how to get the best out of everything –and anything could be used to hone you to a better, sharper edge. In war you had to get damn good, damn fast since your opponents were amoral, more knowledgeable and had years of experience as advantages against you. There were a few memories that showed her how twisted and ugly the war had gotten –the Imperious truly deserved its place as an unforgivable even above the pain and killing curse. It could be _worse than both_ if it was used _just right_. If those individuals ever woke up from it –they promptly committed suicide or went catatonic and for good reason. It was only more fuel for the fire.

Usually her spars were won by a majority of five to ten wins in her favor with either Ace or Sabo respectively. Luffy being Luffy chalked his losses down to age –which was somewhat true. Even with her past life's experience, she still had to learn how to control a variety of things –her steadily increasing to ever higher inhuman levels of strength was one of them. She recognized that her strength was inhuman now. Even most full grown men wouldn't be able to lift the bear she had downed so carelessly much less carried back to Dadan's after her grounding. Her ever increasing awareness was another. It told her that the Tenryubito was a twisted and overly privileged individual with few redeeming characteristics that had been twisted by their culture and beliefs to become even more repulsive. It also told her that he liked to eat his breakfast off the bare backs of his slaves and who cares if they happened to get stabbed by his fork or cut by his knife? He didn't.

The two older boys who were now both eleven agreed which had made her sigh. Ace had lorded the fact that they were the same age for six weeks over Sabo and Luffy that she and he were the same age –until her birthday happened and she was then a year older. This was after his birthday party of course. Ace had been speechless that his birthday had been celebrated by her and her mother, but he quickly got over his shock to prevent Luffy from eating all of his cake. He took his responsibilities as an older brother seriously, even if he was still more than a little rude in doing so. He was still more morose than he should have been, but that was Garp's fault again. Telling a child that his mother died to keep him safe? Letting him question his existence like that? She had several axes to grind with the Vice-Admiral. She just had to corner him long enough and get him to pay attention long enough to give him a solid piece of her mind. She would not be nice about it either.

Of course it went without saying that she was practicing with her magic whenever she had a moment alone. That ever increasing awareness was handy for something. All she really needed was a wand and a few more months to get truly scary. No one got through a war as depraved as that unchanged. However she'd have to get by without it and without some light show whenever she had to use it. She knew she had modified and created spells before –but she didn't know the rules now and without remembering that she was stuck to the more mundane –and largely forgotten- use of runes for simple magic.

Reincarnation truly sucked when you had to re-create a long dead form of magic –it died when the wand was invented- without any helpful tools beyond memory –which could easily be flawed. There were a few that she was already altering in her head –namely a few wards and useful charms.

* * *

Time past ad they grew, and Akiyaki was accepted as an older sister or cousin figure –the one that you had a crush on even though you're not supposed to. Her mother became a favored aunt and her sibling quickly learned to toddle, walk and speak. Her mother's word play and just plain odd spelling choices made it to where her sibling would never have her name spelled right by strangers.

Akiyaki eventually only held a thin pretense of living with her mom most days beyond some daily chores or staying if she knew that ships were due and the bar would be busy. She had brought over books to educate the boys with as Dadan only taught them the basics.

Education was important. You could do a lot more stuff if you knew how. That was how she and Sabo had badgered Ace into expanding his knowledge and the both of them had more or less given up hope of making Luffy have any knowledge beyond the basics unless it could be simplified and applied like a metaphor.

Aki had –after she had started to gain something resembling conscious control over her magic and what Garp had told her was haki once she was twelve- taken to reading a book while sparring with Luffy –which pissed him off and made him fight even worse for a while until he had a decent grasp over his rubber powers. He never quite mastered his powers or even gained a decent grasp upon them until he was thirteen though. Sometime though if a book was wonderfully written and some character did something she's curse or laugh at him.

She also taught them her four basic principles of combat.

Know yourself meant know what you can do, what you will do and how to do it –hence why studying was important. It also meant knowing your strengths and weaknesses and how best to use them to your advantage. Knowing yourself also meant knowing your limits, how to surpass them and knowing what's worth fighting for.

Know your enemy meant learning about them, judging their capabilities and finding the best and most efficient counter to their abilities and using it if necessary or finding out if they're out of your league.

Knowing the world meant knowing the surrounding and terrain and how best to use or abuse it. It also meant knowing the consequences of your actions would have on the world –'cause they wouldn't want or have anything less than that- and what those consequences would mean for you.

The last and most important tenant was fight. It was to truly fight with all you have, to never give up, to preserve, to adapt and improvise your way to victory. It was to fight for your principles, for ideals, honor or pride and to prove your individual worth. The three of them soaked up her principles but sometimes failed to put them into action. They were all learning though with each and every fight. Even if the fight was over something stupid like over which was better -the bear or tiger meat?

* * *

At times she felt like she was teaching her friends how to defend themselves again from that past life of her –but any magic she did was far away from them or unnoticeable. Monkey D. Garp was as good if not better as motivation as the nemesis of her past life had been for improvement.

She particularly hated when Garp had dragged her out of her twelfth birthday party for training. She had her revenge for that moment as he was quickly hit with a much weaker version of his 'fist of love' with what little she could use of that type of haki. Garp broke down in tears, crying in happiness and begging her to be a marine. She answered with a decisive 'no' and then he began telling the boys to become marine's and have then one of them marrying her. Garp then proceeded to kick all their asses and show them how much further they would have to improve to win as he was taking it easy on them –and they all knew it. He wouldn't be enjoying himself so much if he wasn't.

* * *

When Luffy's eighth birthday came around she had the boys separate from each other in order to take down their own game while hunting. That was something that she had been doing since she was seven with varying levels of success depending on what it was.

She had even named her favorite annoying bear which sadly meant she couldn't eat him. It was bad enough that Ace killed and ate Trigger-kitty -something he had paid for many times over by now. Boo wasn't all that of an original name and in her past life it was American slang for boyfriend. Boo however was an intelligent bear for all the hits and knocks to the skull she had given it over the years.

Ace quickly started calling her Yajuu-hime (beast/monster/wild animal princess). It was an interesting nickname. This was after she made friends with the most massive male and female crocodiles in the river which she named Gorgeous George and Nile. There were three other crocodiles that had names. They were named Ya, Ku, and Za, for the number of times she had rescued Luffy from being eaten them.

She was just thankful that no-one hadn't caught her talking to snakes yet. That skill had died in her past life with the final fall of her old nemesis, but had resurfaced in this one. Surprisingly crocodile (and other reptilian languages) were pretty damn close to parseltongue. Enough for her to understand them. There was a reason that soul magic was forbidden -no one ever quite knew what happened involving the soul.

* * *

Then puberty came hard and sudden for her when she was thirteen. When she was a witch in her past life she had horrible cramps and nausea and was an absolute mess. The nausea didn't carry over. Neither did the cramps, which she was thankful for. Instead, she had very wild mood swings which would probably continue until she reached well into adult hood. Her temper was often very well controlled –to which she was extremely thankful that she could remember and use occulmency- but unbelievable in its fury when truly prodded. The boys and Garp got a truly memorable lesson that day as it was the first time they had ever gotten a 'victory' on the Vice-Admiral. The victory was mostly due to Akiyaki feeling particularly vicious and showing it in how hard and fast she struck –but staying in control of her anger and actually managing to use haki as a weapon. Her sturdy nails that made easy climbing over solid stone walls made excellent improvised weapons.

It was less of a victory for 'them' and more for 'her' as she had been keeping up with him when he was fighting on a level they could keep up with. He wasn't playing with them anymore but neither was he taking them seriously. Judging by Garp's tears of happiness and his rather shameless begging after, Akiyaki judged that she could fight at a relatively high level. How high was the question though, along with why wasn't he kidnapping her to take her to the nearest marine base and forcefully enrolled her. The second question was never going to be mentioned to him until she was well-established in her bounty-hunting career.

Garp then turned on the boys after their training session while everyone was nursing various bruises and told them that they were going to be elite marines. It was after that she had been nicknamed Kijo (demoness/witch/ogress/she-devil) from Ace. She liked that nickname. Ace was the only one of the boys to display haki, and he could use it –but not consciously yet. Her own control was sporadic, but getting there.

When it came to her nicknames, she had multiple. Her parents called her Hotaru, but only in private and Shanks had taken to calling her Benihime in those last few days spent together. Luffy called her Aki-nee-san. Sabo had stayed with Akamaru (Red-man) for the longest time before he switched to Akemaru (scarlet/red/bloody-man) before she hit fourteen. After she had earned the nickname of Kijo, Ace had stopped using any variation of her actual name and only called her by Yajuu-hime and Kijo with the occasional Aki-nee-san. Ace's version was meant as an insult as he wrote it as either 'clever devil' or 'evil refined' –with a well-documented preference for the latter spelling. The tendency for word play had rubbed off on the two adopted siblings intelligent enough for it.

* * *

At age fourteen she had found that wraps were preferable to bras, as they didn't have sports bras in this world –or in the parts of the world she knew of. She also found that giving the talk was as traumatic as receiving it when she told the two thirteen year old boys about the wonders and horrors of growing up and puberty –far more in depth than the average person got.

Sadly, it was less traumatic than Garp's attempt since his attempt involved actual blunt force trauma. Once her little sibling was able to get up and about and was mimicking her in everything she had less time to spend with the boys –and less time noticeable training time because of it. So she escaped by showing the little copy-cat how to read and presenting her with engineering, weapon, and shipwright manuals. They all had pictures and Akiyaki explained the math with the understanding that her little sibling was highly unlikely to understand it –or would be a genius with this stuff later. She had always wanted a sibling and wanted the best for her. The boys she considered to be her cousins if only for the fact that she could call her dad a monkey's uncle. She had recently kicked her romance novel addiction because she didn't want her sibling to be addicted to them. She had also kicked up her less easily noticed training by adding weights so that Ace wouldn't be able to destroy her with his natural monstrous strength. She was a speed fighter. Ace was a power fighter. Surprisingly, they were becoming each other's best friend –only after being forced into it by a number of events that only happened because they were fighting again. That and they wanted to avoid the consequences of proving Sabo's bet right.

Since the time her Dad had left until she was fourteen she had been tinkering with the ideas for her custom gun. She thought about making one that worked with the energy known here as haki and she thought about making one similar to what she was had had in her old life or a combination of both as her massive magic reserves didn't carry over and she had no foci to amplify her above average magical reserves now in order to craft it purely out of magic. She had been training her reserves up since she became aware of them and knew how to do so, but she knew that she'd never reach her old level of magical power of what she had in a year to year comparison –for several years anyway. Hard work did pay its dividends.

Beyond that, percussion cap ammunition had yet to be invented (in this life) which left her usual way of making 'magic' bullets beyond her as she could inscribe the necessary runes on the bullet as they were usually brass or nickel. They weren't the most conductive metals or alloys but she could and did overpower them in that life to make up for it (3).

She had then toyed around with some mental ideas of how to do so and make it work and came to the conclusion that her gun would be expensive to make and the shells more so in several ways. The gun would have to be able to conduct magic which meant it had to be made of mid to high carbon steel as she was sure that any of the more conductive metals wouldn't survive the strain of firing quickly or shell #5 which was fiendfyre-variant that exploded into existence once the bullet hit a solid object. Maybe sea-stone could work, depending on how well it conducted magic once she got a hold of some of it to test.

She spent most of her fourteenth year spending time with family, training and sketching out and modifying the designs for her future weapons and guessing how they'd have to be modified to work in this world. It was vaguely annoying to not have anything concrete to work with due to age and lack of materials. That was why she felt the need to go to sea.

* * *

Once she was fifteen she had limited roaming rights to the East Blue. She wasn't leaving permanently, just negotiating the liquor contracts with the merchants and sailors she knew her whole life. They all exclaimed at how beautiful she had gotten over the years and she knew she looked very pretty. Since she was negotiating for her mother she was pulling out all the girly-girl stops, with her weapons very well hidden in their places.

After the business with the contracts was over, she went to explore the town. Since she had made excellent time here she had extra time to kill for the time allotment of a week. She picked up a room in a decent looking hotel and had planned to stay for two nights. She wanted to change out of her good-girl clothing and into her rough-and-ready clothing but didn't. She went to the pub next door after leaving her room.

In her good girl clothing she had covered practically every inch of her skin with clothing to make her look cute, innocent and harmless. There were a couple of subtle signs that she wasn't harmless or innocent, such as the calluses on her hands and her preference for combat boots but they were easily dismissed. Her hair when being a good girl was usually loose or tied back in a low ponytail with the occasional pigtails or side-tail. It had grown from her childhood length of brushing her shoulders into reaching a few inches below her shoulders and nearly touching the middle of her back.

Her rough-and-ready clothing on the other hand said that she knew how to take care of herself. She wore dark pants with multiple pockets that were tight at her thighs and loose below her knees so that she could wear her boots –and weights- without complication. Her chest was tightly bound, but loose enough that she could breathe and move easily. Typically a stolen off-white tank top from Sabo covered the wraps and stolen shirts from Ace were worn over Sabo's tank and her hair. Ace's shirt covered enough of her back that her hair was loose underneath it in part. She had merely done a really low ponytail that stayed under the borrowed shirt to keep it from flying around and possibly getting pulled. That reminded her that she really ought to return that shirt but it made for a really awesome sleep shirt.

In both outfits her hair looked more like her mother's as she had let her bangs grow into the rest of her hair –well she had let them grow out enough to where she could tie them back in a ponytail as they weren't nearly as long as the rest of her hair. With the pigtails in her good-girl clothes she had a bonus to her cute factor. In her rough-and-ready clothes the loose bangs made her look dangerous even without the bonus of her bandana shadowing her violet eyes.

Her favorite trick was a wandless party trick that she had performed in this life was the one that made her eyes glow. In her past life it wasn't a favored trick unless intimidation was involved. She had killing-curse green eyes then. Now she had hauntingly purple eyes that freaked a number of people out when they cast such a light. Then again, it might have been the chromatophores in her eye changing that freaked people out as her eyes literally changed colors (4). Her eyes weren't truly purple –they were a mix of muted reds and glacial blues on a scale so small that the normal human eye couldn't see it. So by back-lighting her eyes causing a slight 'glow' also altered her eye color. Or the light or maybe the crazy grin she usually let accompany it that freaked people out. Most people were wimps.

The bar was full of its usual patrons, and an obvious visitor. She zoomed in on the visitor and joined up with the odd looking person. At first she thought that the visitor was an albino given the shade of hair and skin. Then she realized that it was a very light shade of silver, and the eyes were blue-green. Based on the attractive face shape and the hidden curves of the body –the visitor was female. The visitor was wearing a dark red odd jacket, cape, cowl thing of a stiff material. Akiyaki didn't know what it was called properly which was something of a surprise.

The wide and buckled collar covered up to the visitor's nose or would if it was fully closed and not just partially. The garment had more buckles and such going down its front but only the topmost three from below the neck were actually used. The rest was unbuckled and allowed the garment to spread down and open. It sort of reminded her of a poncho from her old life but it wasn't cut the same. It had four slits in it. One slit was in the front, two were on the sides and the last one was in the back. The sides and probably the back were strapped together by an internal strap as she saw no outside adornments on the side. As the front of it was open she could see under the mystery garment.

Under it was a dark rust red long-sleeve jacket that was obviously resting more on the shoulders than being worn. She was wearing little more than a well what her past life knew as a camisole cut short to cover her chest. The legs were covered by tight dark fabric. The fronts of her lower legs were covered by greaves, and the shoes she wore had small metal talons that she could see. On top of her silver head was a hat that she usually attributed to something like a dragoon or musketeer hat.

She was strongly reminded of a few characters from video games that her past life had played. The face was what she had imagined a female Sephiroth to look like. The top garment reminded her of Vincent Valentine's outfit. The hat and the jacket under the collared poncho were similar to that of Freya Crescent of FFIX. The hat however had bunny ears instead of bat wings which threw off the badass vibe the rest of her outfit was sporting. She totally blamed Dudley for brief plunge into anime and games when she was in her early twenties (5). Dudley had the best ice cream for when she had just had a break-up with a boyfriend because of various issues that were mostly hers –be he be a wizard or not- and the games had made her feel better because she was killing things and saving the world without the mess and stress involved.

Akiyaki ordered her meal and ate with polite manners. She restrained herself from bombarding her with question. It was also equally apparent that within minutes the woman with silver hair was also restraining herself. As soon as her meal was done and the dishes taken away the woman with silver hair launched herself at Akiyaki and gathered her into her arms.

"You're so cute!" The silver haired woman squealed as she squeezed the hug tighter.

If someone had told Akiyaki that this individual would eventually become one of her most trusted friend and navigator she would have shot them with her little revolver. Multiple times. To hell with the expense of ammunition. She could spare a million or two.

* * *

A/N: This chapter is something of an information dump.

1. Go look up the Human Genome Project. It's some interesting information. As for half of humanity's DNA being viral? Yes, yes it is. Viruses come, infect, multiply and then get beaten into dormancy. It's why chickenpox can come back as shingles -your body isn't stopping that bit of DNA from making the materials needed to make the virus itself.

2. Inbreeding is bad. Chronic inbreeding is even worse. Everyone is crazy for supporting it. They should know better. However people are people and that explains just about every problem any society faces. As the country song says, "God is great, beer is good and people are crazy."

3. A small lecture on the history of firearms –everyone knows that old time guns like the matchlock had some shitty capabilities and limits or should know it. See this American Revolution quote, 'It was an unlucky solider that was hit by a musket at 100 yards –provided it was actual aimed at him.' That was black powder magic there. Rifling of the barrel to give bullets a spin came later and smokeless powder even after that. Percussion caps and cartridges are some of the more modern munitions. These are an improvement as powder doesn't have to be loaded by hand, the gun primed and dry and needs no fire to light. Instead the trigger squeezes, the hammer cocks back and bang! Easy no? The bullet has been shot far faster and more accurately and all you have to do is get rid of the cartridge so you can load again if the cartridge or casing isn't already ejected for you. There is a reason that Yassop is so damn awesome. He can shoot the wings off a fly at 50 yrds using a powder-matchlock gun. That's awesome aim.

4. Eyes can do some freaky things. Change color over time, with your mood or whatever. Basically, all she's doing is shifting her eye color with magic using the components that make up her eye color. It is not using metamorphic talents. Some people with hazel eyes can shift theirs to green and then brown in less than a minute.

5. While you can look up the outfits of various people mentioned, this person looks a hell of a lot like Gwen Stefani –just with a bigger chest, because this is One Piece. There is no such thing as flat-chested girl unless she's a child. As for how she knows the video-game character? She did keep in better contact with the muggle world than her male canon-counterpart did. Yeah, even in HP cannon he could have been exposed to some old school anime and awesome games like that. FF7 was first released in 1997 for those who speak English. For the HP maniacs that would be the summer from sixth to seventh year so Harry would be 17. In her past life, Dudders was nice to his cousin 'cause she was a girl and is less magic hating than his parents. While they weren't buddy-buddy growing up, they did at least get along somewhat. FF9 was released in 2000 so she would be 20 then. Being a little behind the times (and hype) and wanting a break from the wizarding world is why she had a tendency to crash at her cousin's place for days at a time. This also means some old school anime like Sailor Moon, Ranma and others of that time period was watched. No Bleach, Naruto or Fairy-Tail for her though. She had returned to the magical world by that time. The only exception was the 2003 FMA when she had to explain to Dudders that none of those alchemic formulas would work or at least work like that.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Let's go montage through some memories, shall we? Building a reputation is important. Also this is the reason behind the story's name.

Ace is 14. Akiyaki is 15. Sabo is 13. Luffy is 12.

Ace's birthday being Jan 1st. Akiyaki's birthday is February 14th so she's a few weeks past. Sabo was born on March 20th. Luffy's birthday is May the 5th.

**1/21/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 9: The Birth of Valentine

Akiyaki wondered how the hell she got herself into something like this. Okay, so maybe she shouldn't have sat with the stranger while she ate or something but she was clearly from some place _interesting_.

She also needed to breathe. Thankfully the woman realized this as she soon stopped with the hugging and the squeezing and the possible groping. Aki wasn't sure if the hand that had brushed her ass was intentional or not.

Thanks be to the various deities that breath control was crucial to swimming and numerous other exercises and she had done a lot of it over the years –as well as surviving hugs from Luffy and Garp.

It was just slightly weird to see someone who looked so much like Fluer's little sister –in far different clothes and in mannerisms. She just hoped that they were different in personality. Gabby knew she was cute and adorable and milked it for all that it was worth and then some.

"What's your name?" The strange woman inquired –not caring at all about all the other patrons. It was a bar and strange things happened in bars all the time.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" Aki asked.

"Oh, yeeah." She drawled dreamily. "That's polite thing to do, no? Ryoko. Name's Ryoko."

For some strange reason, Aki was forcefully reminded of Fleur once she had stopped being a bitch and her sister Gabrielle who had admired her in that past life of hers. That was both good and bad. Aki attributed it to the hair and face. Remembering what she did with the two part-veela's she hoped that that was all that reminded her as she had some fond and downright embarrassing memories involved with the both of them. Mostly Fluer and Gabby talking her into some really risqué lingerie and some downright bizarre costumes at times, and that wasn't even talking about the times when they had banished the men and children away for the day and had a girl's day in –full of various romantic anecdotes and much teasing all around –and manicures and pedicures. Fluer was damn good at those.

"Akiyaki." She replied with a serious and much put upon expression. Her mother's taste in names _sucked_. Hers wasn't much better though –but at least they weren't likely to be misspelled when written by strokes. It was a bit of a conundrum for her -all the diverse populations and cultures and there was a common world wide language? The World Government could explain it -if it wasn't for the fact that they promoted English and the language spoken world-wide was similar to Japanese. Learning languages in the wizarding world was easy and considered a worthwhile hobby. Having too much free time make her jumpy.

"Such a serious name. So un-cute! Your new name is Valentine!" The strange lady with silver hair declared. Thankfully, no one was paying the two of them the least bit of attention and while the lady was clearly overly excited she was at least keeping her words low enough to not carry far.

Aki had long-since managed to get the notice-me-not charm to work wandlessly, although that was a trying experience she did not want to repeat that spanned years before she was able to do so successfully everytime. Sure she could have taken them down easily, but her dignity would have paid a rather high price. It also came in handy when smuggling crocodiles.

"How is Valentine cute?" Akiyaki replied, tilting her head sideways in contemplation.

"It isn't." Ryoko replied. Akiyaki felt an eyebrow twitch –in amusement.

"So why Valentine?" She had no qualms with the name. It had been her call-sign while working in the DoM –before she died. She still had no idea why it was and blamed the fact that it was well known that she hadn't liked the holiday at all. Since the head was a bit of a horse's rear, that was probably why.

"It's a strong name. It is also sexy, brazen and mysterious." Ryoko replied in a way that said that this statement was a universal fact like water was wet and the sky was blue.

"I don't look a thing like any of those." She currently didn't. That was the benefit of pig-tails and a white dress. It makes everyone look innocent -if they're female. Guys would look rather strange.

"Point." Ryoko replied in a slightly dejected tone as if the newly dubbed Valentine had just killed her puppy. Her face even seemed like it was on a cross of pouting and crying. She then cheered up and her face was highly animated. "But you can though!"

This would be why Aki was reminded of the two part-veela sisters. They had a habit of dressing her up. They also had a thing for 'cute' and another for 'sexy' which is why she had ask the Veela to help her with Hermione and several other girls to get Hermione's hair tamed in fourth year and keep it that way without using gallons of product –that was after Fleur had grown up some and they all stopped snubbing each other. Concerning the two part-veela sisters, while Fluer was once a Tri-wizard champion and powerful in her own right it was Gabby was the one that you had to truly watch out for as she remained small and fun-sized which she used to her advantage as she was capable of weapon's grade cute and _she used it_. Mercilessly and ruthlessly.

"I guess. What do you think about the name of Benihime?" Aki replied.

She didn't mind that nickname at all. It was her father's for her and she missed the man. Her mother did too, but she suspected that was the product of having an affair with a pirate for the better part of the year and the man missing another child growing up. The relationship between her parents was remarkably open –if hidden from the town's general knowledge. If she construed how good it was between them based from audio alone –and that was an 'ick' thought to consider no matter her age- it was probably the sex that was definitely missed the most and the companionship after that. The audio knowledge had at one point driven her to stealing her father's bed on his ship –to everyone's amusement although no one else really knew beyond a few people who kept mum about it. Her father's bed was uncomfy.

As far as the town knew bar a few people, Makino had become smitten with a young suave sailor who became a bastard for leaving her mother like that. As the only redhead around she had somehow become rather attached to Shanks who was also a redhead, and the idea that he was her father –and he was but that wasn't common knowledge of the town would try to lynch him or poison him for accidentally doing what he did to her mom _just wasn't done_- and it was all so cute and adorable on her part and _so_ nice of the pirate to go along with it. Shanks' reputation in town took a bit of a hit when her mother had drunk the pirate under the table, but it was well known how her family earned the bar in the first place in town so it was to be expected. It was also understandable that they were still a bit too drunk in the morning after the contest to make intelligent decisions resulting in her little sister. That, the town's people would try to lynch him for -infamous pirate or not.

"You're not wearing enough red –and it would clash with your gorgeous hair." A flash of concern. "You really need to take better care of it, you know." Ryoko frowned at her long bangs that looked a bit frazzled –and uneven.

Aki knew her hair was something of a mess even as she blushed. She had never quite mastered the art of cutting it evenly with scissors and she didn't like them anywhere near her hair unless she was the one trimming the hair. Her past life's jealous bitch aunt had traumatized her a few too many times with those scissors. She also didn't take as good of care of it as she should –swimming in the ocean while excellent exercise was not good for hair as the salt stripped a lot of the oils out of the hair although she didn't have much of a problem with that, and she didn't always bother with taking proper care of it before she went to bed so that she wouldn't turn it into a massive tangle. She usually used a few phrases creatively whenever she did that. The jungle wasn't that kind to her hair either… she must seem rather pathetic. How embarrassing.

Now, stop blushing Aki. You're a red head. You blush _all _over.

"But a nice deep burgundy would work, wouldn't it?" Aki asked as she fought to get her blush under control.

"I suppose it would." Ryoko admitted after a few moments of contemplation. "You'd need a different haircut for Benihime to actually work."

"No." Aki replied firmly. She got up from the table paid her tab and left for a walk. Preferably a long one.

She was really picky about who could touch her hair.

* * *

A few moments later she became aware of Ryoko stalking her.

Akiyaki walked out into the street, out of town and then past the well maintained fields of the island into the forest. She looked back and Ryoko had already disappeared from view as well as from her awareness. Her awareness wasn't that helpful as it told her that Ryoko was strong and her favorite food was tomatoes.

This sort of hide and seek lasted for a good hour as she made tracks, backtracked and went through a few other methods for turning someone off of her trail. Giving up on Ryoko actually showing herself to her she turned around to speak to her stalker and was heading to her hiding place when she was promptly tackled.

Akiyaki thanks to countless hours spent training and playing around with the boys and wild animals knew how to turn the tackle around so that her white dress with lace decorated arms wouldn't get damaged. She liked the pattern. It was flowery! The 'and she worked hard on it' went unsaid.

"What the hell was that for?" Akiyaki asked in a harsh whisper. She then sensed something around them. She felt something that clearly didn't belong. She really needed to work on that outside of combat -it was on her to-do list.

This island wasn't known for anything in particular beyond being a lead producer in a number of supplies in the East Blue. It was for that reason that it was prone to pirate attacks. The pirate attacks are why it was one of the islands in East Blue that had a Marine Base on it as East Blue was the most peaceful sea. There really shouldn't be anyone out and about in this neck of the woods. It was an isle dedicated to farming and producing various farm-stuff so all the good citizens were getting ready for bed if not already in it. She quickly hid in a tree without making a sound or moving a leaf out of place.

Late night tag with the guys had taught her how to hide and hide well while wearing blindingly bright white. Despite have a lot more memories in her head than the guys didn't mean she always made the 'right' decisions all the time the least of which was not wearing appropriate clothing to play in. Ryoko however stayed on the ground. Aki just hoped that those bunny ears of hers or that bright hair weren't going to get her spotted. She had noticed that there were a few brown spots at the tips of those ears but she had to give props to whoever made them –they certainly looked real.

Hearing heavy tread and slightly slurred voices convinced her that there were people who weren't supposed to be here were here. That meant that pirates were around. Given that the isle had a marine base her faith in the marines (as not all of them were evil bastards but more of them were trying to do right for their part of the world) and her faith in the government (who took in good guys and changed a number of them into evil bastards through the powers that be tradition and bureaucracy) as small as it was took a hit and she decided that the pirates had nice big balls –or their captain did.

She signaled to Ryoko that there were four men at 11 o' clock of their position. Ryoko flicked an ear on her hat to say that she was listening.

It seemed that charades at night was remarkable fun. Akiyaki removed her snub nose revolver and flicked the safety off. Ryoko removed what looked like a combination between a three part staff and a naginata that had folded or something for easy storage. It was the only logical explanation behind it since magic didn't really exist here –or so she had found. It was rather remarkable on Ryoko's part as she was on the forest leaf litter and didn't make a sound.

"-we out here again?"

"Captain Rhodes said to scout before we lose the last of the light so we can attack at dawn."

"Heh heh heee. Those Marines are idiots aren't they?"

"Nah, they're all after that pirate, Captain Kuro or sumtin'. Is why we gonna raid this place now."

"Seems like something of a waste of time though. What's this place got anyway?"

"Captain Rhodes wants to try to get into South Blue, we need supplies to make it. We're taking 'em from here. So it's not a waste of time."

"Then to the Grand Line right?" Akiyaki heard as the quartet of low class pirates passed by the two females. She waited until she couldn't hear them anymore before dropping out of her tree and towards Ryoko.

"Bastards." Ryoko commented.

"That they are. Rhodes has a bounty of 10,000,000 beri." Akiyaki stated coldly. "That's a good seven million above average for East Blue."

"See! Valentine does suit you!" Ryoko commented in a cheerful whisper. "Want to join me in hunting them?"

"If I can borrow your cape, cowl-thingy and swing by my room and change out of my girly clothes. I don't want to explain any blood stains to mom –or have to launder them out myself. This dress is white –it's staying white."

This world lacked bleach or its equivalent in many parts of the world. In her past life, purples and the likes were once reserved for those who had the money to afford the expense of the dye. Here white could do the same –if it stayed a pristine white and didn't stink. There was a way to launder whites but it involved doing so the same way the Romans without magic or a magical servant did –with urine. That wasn't even getting into the lack of detergent –it was soap or nothing.

"That's why Valentine suits you!" Ryoko declared. "I knew that it would. You can be so serious so it suits you like a really tight and protective, ah, glove." The woman seemed to know what she was doing but she was a ditz.

"Shut up, Usagi." Aki replied, referring to her hat with bunny ears.

"You gave me a nickname? How cuuu-uute!" Cue glomp.

Glomps were something she wasn't practiced with at dodging –except for Luffy's and you could hear those from far away. Luffy wasn't a quiet soul.

Aki only hoped that this woman didn't start nuzzling her.

It was a vain hope.

"So cu-te!"

* * *

Two hours later they had reached where the pirates were docked and had long since scouted out the ship in the dying daylight. Akiyaki or Valentine as Ryoko was fond of calling her had changed and they had scoped out the ship, its guards and who were the biggest threats –that they could see. There could be more that were still on board and had never gone up on deck.

Ryoko had earned some respect. She knew what she was doing when it came to all of this stuff –which was good –Aki didn't. Not in practice, or not really. There were a couple of other bandit gangs in the mountains that would have a different opinion but their opinion didn't count. They were all bluster and blunder and maybe look and act terrifying enough to not have anyone pursue you later. They really shouldn't have raided one of her caches on the island.

"Should we get the captain while he's sleeping or take these idiots head on?" Aki asked, getting her temporary partner's opinion. Bluffing until it became true was a valid tactic after all. Not the smartest but still valid.

"Hmm. It depends on the message we wanna send to them. Head on says 'strong!' while sleeping screams 'sneaky, sneaky, sneaky!' Both are equally sexy, but one is bound to get us more sweaty but the other could cause the weaklings to try and swarm, penetrate and plunder the town." Ryoko declared.

Akiyaki raised an eyebrow at her phrasing. What kind of maniac had she met? First with the glove thing as she knew that Ryoko had changed the word she had wanted to say, and then before the glomping and now her allusions to sex? Yup, she had met someone truly unique.

"The idea of them endangering the town and my stuff is pissing me off." She withdrew one of the short swords her father had given her for her birthday years ago and her revolver in the other. "Let's go and do a surprise wake-up call, shall we?"

* * *

An attack on the ship surprised the hell out of the crew. The fact that they were getting pounded by two women only further surprised them. They got over it quickly enough but that still didn't help them. East Blue was known as the weakest sea for a reason.

Rhodes and his crew proved easy to beat –even without surprise on their side once it wore off. Rhodes was kind of pathetic. He had some interesting tricks but they had better. Even Luffy would have had no problem. No wonder East Blue was called the weakest sea. Although Aki felt a bit bad that she didn't remember that most people weren't as durable as Ace or Luffy or Sabo or even herself until a bit later in the fight. She had killed a number of the pirates by accident with a couple of kicks to a few vulnerable spots, elbows to the face that had knocked them out and over the ship and what-have-you. She felt a bit sad for a moment but it still didn't change the fact that they were dead.

Some deaths were intentional by either her sword or her gun or even her fingernails once she had run out of ammo and didn't feel like reloading.

Surprisingly she and Ryoko worked in sync with each other as if they had been doing so for years and killed or landing blows that would crippled the crew –if they survived, which they wouldn't without immediate medical attention. She really didn't care about causing death at all. All things die after all. Causing it to happen sooner didn't really change the fact that it would eventually happen. She had mastered death after all, hadn't she?

It was surprising the Ryoko had followed her on the slaughter but she clearly wasn't from East Blue as she was expecting the men to be more durable too. That said, between the fact that the naginata wasn't a forgiving weapon and the few kicks to the throats of men with stiletto ends of her shoes and the claws at her toes -Aki got the idea that Ryoko was a person who cared about a few things. Killing wasn't one of them. She didn't like to but she had no qualms about ending someone's life. To be honest, neither did Aki once they crossed certain lines.

The war in her past life, the crimes committed on a near-daily basis in this world and the amount of animals she had killed over the years had long since inured her to bloodshed and she wasn't the most ethical person around anyway to begin with. She was more likely to cry over killing a bear or dog than killing a person intent on violence. A person killing people has been happening for a long time, and would probably continue to do so as long as people existed.

* * *

They hauled Rhodes' corpse to the Marine base or to be more precise, Akiyaki dragged his corpse there over her shoulder. Due to the cloak-coat she had borrowed from Ryoko, her bound breasts and other clothing she looked male. She was just glad that she was taller than average which meant she was tall enough to pull this off.

She also borrowed Ryoko's foot accessories –namely the claw like attachments. She looked to be very pretty and young guy. She hadn't removed the make-up that covered the two scars on her left cheek and her hair was currently several shades darker than usual thanks in part to a prank by the boys and in another part due to the drying blood that was caking on her hair. She was wearing a red headband that was formally white –a pirate was clumsy and slashed the leg of another pirate in the femoral artery and that had gotten blood _everywhere_ for a few seconds anyway. She really wanted a shower soon.

Ryoko didn't want to go into the base itself but found it very adorable -Aki was informed of this in a squeal- that Aki had been practicing her best Benn imitation on the walk there.

Akiyaki had decided that Valentine was going to be a male persona. That way she could still run around in her girly-girl outfits and pretend to be a normal girl when she wanted to. A wandless glamour would further transform her features and make Valentine seem older than she was but still rather ageless. She decided to make her eyes seem to flash between brown and red and darken her hair to the raven wing black it had been in her last life.

The idea of multiple persona and various guises appealed to her last life's paranoia. It also appealed to this life's paranoia. She saw the persecution that Ace faced from ignorant fools about his father even though they had no idea about who they were talking about –the only reason they actually said anything was because he was dead. She was the daughter of Shanks –a world famous pirate and now one of the Yonko –as he had been for years- which was why he never visited but he did at least write. They were more or less in the same position -but she was far luckier in many ways.

There wasn't even the slightest rumor around the Shanks had a kid. The rumor that Roger had a kid was less prevalent now than it had been in the past but Ace's old man had left him the majority of his looks, several personality quirks and an unwanted legacy and reputation. Once the similarities were pointed out between the two Ace had a major sulk-fest and was unapproachable for the better part of a month. It caused them to re-affirm an old promise between them that they had made when they were younger.

Then again, she knew she shared a number of characteristics with her father too such as her normal cheerful personality –warped as it was by memories of a war that she had technically never fought in. She was pretty sure that her killer instinct wasn't one of them, or even if it was he didn't possess the instinct to cause complete and utter destruction to her enemies –as she had proven by shooting those who tried to escape Rhodes' ship.

She walked in with a guy's stride –something that was somewhat difficult to do but easy enough if you had spent part of your teenage years and childhood pretending to be a boy -to the interior of the base. Once there a stunned marine asked her what was she doing there. In reply she walked over to the wall with all the posted bounties and pulled Rhodes' poster and tossed the corpse with poster onto the nearby table and held out a hand.

The poor guy with desk duty went to fetch his superior who was authorized to pay out bounties. The superior verified that yes the dead guy was Rhodes, and paid out the beri owed. Seven million wasn't a lot in the grand scheme of things but the base was probably broke now. The superior asked for a name and she replied with the name of Valentine. The superior then had two more marines who were awake take the corpse away.

Seeing an opportunity to establish a solid beginning to a career of bounty-hunting she saw fit to warn them about a few things.

"Careful with him, now. He's still fresh." Seeing the marines gape at her and so she flashed her eyes red in the glamor while smirking, she decided to elaborate in her altered voice. "He was docked under your noses. Go and find what's left of his crew before something else does and they really get going."

Taking her money, she left in a way that she was sure made Snape proud. She had gotten the coat to billow just right after all -she hadn't quite expected it to as it was made from a heavy fabric and the outside covered with a red canvas-sail like substance.

The cape swirly thing was awesome and surprisingly fun. Hermione would be appalled at her morals and the amusement derived from her actions, and then scold her for scaring those poor marines. Hermione had known her well. Hermione would make someone's life hell but leave them alive. Hermione wasn't someone who could kill easily. Anything but that was fair game provided you were able to piss her off to such a degree. Her past self on the other hand was in comparison the merciful one. She'd kill you quick –unless you pissed her off. Then she'd utterly destroy you before putting you down. Pansy had learned that the hard way.

* * *

Once she met Ryoko outside of the base they started walking back to the forest to throw off any marine pursuit as she counted and divided the reward money. She handed over half of the reward, as was fair. She helped out, took out about half and so earned it. Ryoko gave her a tenth of that back making it sixty-forty.

"Why?" She asked confused. It was truly odd, but they had an unspoken agreement unless she had read that wrong. The answer Aki received didn't help either.

"Because it is rare to meet such a splendid example of beauty in all of its forms! Someone who could be so cute and sexy! Who can be masculine and feminine and all so wonderful and so very strong! Kyaa!" Ryoko exclaimed while emphasizing the last squeal by falling over towards her.

Akiyaki caught her by her coat sleeve to prevent her from falling to the ground. Killer she might be –of that there was no doubt- but without curtsy was another thing. Politeness was a good thing –and also a weapon all its own.

"So noble and caring." Ryoko claimed from her position –tenuous as it was. "Can I keep you?" The last statement was asked while she hugged the younger female in a crushing hug.

"No. You'll not be keeping me. I keep to myself usually." She responded cheerfully.

"Oh." Ryoko replied, dejected. "Foolish of me to ask."

Akiyaki feeling like she had killed her puppy felt the need to clarify what she meant.

"I'm not objecting to your company should we meet again, but mother is only letting me deal with business close to home for a while more. No sailing out of East Blue until I'm older."

"Really?"

"Yes." She replied. Then in her imitation of Benn's voice that would belong to her Valentine persona she asked, "Do you have a room to stay at in town so that we can salvage some sleep after all of our nighttime excitement?"

"I do, but I wouldn't object to sharing." Ryoko teased back with a look of glee in her eyes. She had pegged her as a deviant and was proven right about it.

Akiyaki blushed. That had backfired.

* * *

Their rooms were on the same floor so after the cloak-thingy and claws were returned to Ryoko, did the two go to their separate beds and sleep. It was only in the morning while sharing breakfast that they heard about what had happened with the pirate mess. East Blue was dotted with small towns all over –news travelled fast as a number of marines were probably locals.

Akiyaki was dressed in her normal girly-girl white dress and boots while Ryoko was in more normal clothing although she was still wearing her red jacket and unusual foot wear of greaves but minus the claws. The greaves were hidden by baggy pants borrowed from Aki today.

This marked the first time that the world heard about Valentine.

It wouldn't be the last.

However it was the first time that the epitaph of Bloody Valentine was suggested.

It also wouldn't be the last and in five years would become an epitaph to be feared all over the world –one that would inspire terror into anyone with a bounty on their heads however large that bounty might be unless they were in the know.

Aki found it the beginning of a spectacular prank on the world. Her sense of humor had always been a bit warped.

* * *

A/N; Ah, it's the start of a particularly bloody career path.

Aki has a limited amount of sympathy for raiding pirates on peaceful little places. Ships at sea are fine –they should really protect themselves better. It's a really low amount, especially if they're more violently inclined –especially to those that can't fight back. She does however have even less sympathy than that towards the corrupt and morally bankrupt individuals in offices of power.

The saving people thing is still there –somewhat. It has been tempered by age, exp. and the fact that it is a completely different world that plays by completely different rules. She's more than a bit prideful too.

Honorable people who are magnificent bastards yet get things that need doing, done can be left alone, watched or targeted. This however, doesn't spare them from being insulted or pranked.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Yes, I'm teasing all of the readers by skipping around. It's surprisingly fun. These next few chapters are dedicated to how the world views Akiyaki's reputation as Valentine and as Benihime. Being in a war teaches you to plan these things as you try to gain information on them and keep them from gaining it on you. Most people hear 'plan for the worst, hope for the best' and maybe get up to Plan C. Aki has more than that.

Ace is 17. Aki is 17/18. Sabo is 16. Luffy is 14.

**1/22/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 10: Another Bird's Perspective

Dracule Mihawk, known around the world as "Hawk-eyes" and "Greatest Swordsman in the World" was confused and hung-over as the brief and pained glance at a soon spinning room proved.

He closed his infamous eyes to better understand how he got to that state of confusion and that level of intoxication in the first place. During the brief amount of time his eyes were open though he had at least recognized the room he was in. The room was one he was familiar with as he had seen it a number of times through a number of years. It was at one time a guest room on Shanks' ship that had eventually evolved into his room on the ship –even if he wasn't a member of his crew. It was his room –complete with spare clothing which proclaimed it as his if nothing else.

The aches he was feeling said that he and Shanks had clashed blades again in a spar, however there were some that said it wasn't just Shanks' work. That was unusual. He didn't remember anything other than that annoying red hair.

The hangover suggested that after the spar they had gotten drunk. The last was slightly unusual as he'd usually never drink enough to get drunk –much less to the point of hangover. He, however, had gotten plastered to the point of not being able to remember what had happened last night and most of that afternoon or at least at this moment. _This was highly unusual_.

Knowing that he wouldn't get over the hangover fast enough to withstand Shanks' cheerfulness without rehydrating he took himself to the ship's kitchen. Shanks was a man that could outdrink a fish and wake up the next morning with little more than a slight headache and hangover.

Even with the party hard nature of the crew, there were a few that were responsible and limited the amount of alcohol they consumed. Usually the cook, the night's lookouts and Shanks' first mate was chief among them, although Mihawk had the hazy feeling that he had been in a drinking contest with both Benn and Shanks. That was about the only thing he remembered about yesterday other than the fact that it had seemed imperative to get as drunk as possible as quickly as possible after the spars.

He just hoped that he hadn't made an ass out of himself while drunk. He wasn't a nice drunk or a happy drunk. He was a quiet but heavily sarcastic asshole when drunk, although Shanks had once called him a downright pleasant fellow with a sense of humor while heavily buzzed. That was Akagami's opinion though, so it didn't count. Akagami had probably had a few too many blows to the head to be all there.

Mediating his stride so that he wouldn't stumble or even worse still walk drunkenly, Mihawk slowly made his way to the ship's gallery.

Once there he realized why he had gotten smashed, although he did comprehend it as soon as he brain got around to realizing and acknowledging what he saw.

Shanks had a daughter.

A daughter that was highly skilled and was very talented with a blade considering her age and very strong –although the last was based on the bits of him that felt a bit more bruised than others which somehow included his throat.

He doubted that she would ever be able to beat him as she just didn't have the drive to be the very best that he could see, but she would make a reasonably good sparring partner as she was better than about seventy-five percent of the world judging by how callused her hands were and how she moved –and would get better with some more experience and time. He was hungover, but he was known as the best for a good reason.

She was also very, very pretty.

He had eyes after all and was appreciative of her alluring and exotic beauty but she was also just like the infuriatingly cheerful man –but female. A long sleeve white collar button up shirt only proved that she even dressed somewhat like him. He doubted that Shanks ever wore a skirt but he easily could have. She and her behavior would explain why Benn Beckman had been drinking with him and just as fast. Shanks in large doses could drive even a man like Benn to drink for those unused to the man. Doubling the exposure would make anyone want to drink.

"Ah, so you are up!" She said, just as cheerfully as Shanks would be after breakfast but far quieter. So she wasn't a complete a copy of the man as he had feared and somewhat dreaded.

Her mother had some influence then. That was good.

The world wouldn't survive two of Shanks –or they would be too drunk to care.

"I'm pretty sure that you usually don't drink that much, so are well this morning or not?" She asked. Shanks was usually polite, even by pirate standards, but that was a bit overkill on politeness and formality.

"A hangover, but a few glasses of something and breakfast would not be amiss in remedying that." Mihawk replied. She smiled at his order and looking far too at home behind the bar and adjoining kitchen in the gallery and went to prepare it. He thought it was rather odd that Shanks hadn't mentioned anything about this, but he had probably tuned out Akagami's usual babble and missed him informing him of this. Or he could have ignored the man entirely and took a nap. That was possible. Sleeping off a hangover wasn't something that could be done around these pirates. They were too loud –once they got over their own hangovers. Spontaneous real-life musicals could and did happen as they did last night.

Mihawk found his order in front of his face in what seemed like mere moments after he had ordered. She had prepared an omelet for him and divined his preferred breakfast tastes –although he didn't know how and that little and positively female smirk said he shouldn't ask. After breakfast which he thanked her for preparing for him, Mihawk admitted defeat to his pride and asked for her name again.

"Ah, the mightiest swordsman in the world even falls victim to the devil's drink." Mihawk found himself wanting to growl at the Shanks-like answer. He reminded himself that this was Shanks' daughter and not some random person who he could intimidate. "Call me Aki."

Autumn. It seemed like such a simple name, and was probably only part of it.

Mihawk however wasn't interested in her or her name. He was far more intrigued by what he remembered of her sword skills and why she wasn't on a poster somewhere since this was part of the New World they were in. That question had led to some of the crew questioning her skills and she had been vouched for by Benn and Yassop, which is why he had challenged her to a spar.

The recollections of last night must have shown somehow on his face. He blamed that on the hangover or she really was that astute.

"The Greatest Swordsman in the World is being curious. So I guess I could answer a few of his questions. I have nothing better to do for a while, since I've already ate, took a shower and cleaned up after myself. I was just about to get bored again." She smiled a rather sad smile –sad for the opportunities missed of annoying several people no matter how powerful they were.

"Why haven't I heard about you?" Mihawk asked her.

"I didn't want to be known as the daughter of Shanks or by my name, so I'm not. Nor did I want to rely on such a thing or have to deal with his enemies before I'm able to." She shrugged. "It's as simple and complex as that."

An alias and a disguise was an obvious reason for the lack of infamy. This proved that she was someone else's daughter too and not just Akagami's.

A person didn't have to have his infamous eyes to see the resemblance. It really was _that_ obvious. If Shanks was seventeen again, the only way the average person would tell them apart would be the lack of boobs, length of hair, earrings, the cut and style of hair and eye color. Since she seemed to prefer loose white tops like her father, having those bound boobs bound as any decent swordswoman should do would only make it harder. That, in retrospect, might be why Shanks had made the attempt at growing a beard –and was still failing at it nearly two-decades later.

"So what are you known by?"

"These questions seem rather familiar, ya know Hawk-eyes?" Behind the gallery's bar, she pulled out a tall barrel to use as a seat across from him, while she placed her attractive face in her left palm in a move that bespoke of long ingrained habit. "I'm pretty sure that they're what caused you and Benn and me to get into a drinking contest after our little spar. Benn won." She scowled prettily at that. "Then again, the pirates around us were more concerned with watching than fetching more to drink so I bowed out. Habits are such silly things at times."

She seemed to have also inherited Shanks' ability for understatement.

Little spar, she called it, as he could now remember more of it that was gradually being filled in as he sobered up.

Mihawk would eat his hat before he called what he remembered of that brief fight a little spar –then again, spars between those that were levels above the rest had a tendency to be known as a fight. It was still a spar, but it wasn't little or nice.

She couldn't match him in sheer strength but her sheer speed and unpredictability in movement had easily nullified that advantage causing him to fight at her level of physical strength –which was pretty strong for a young woman –even if he could push her back with one hand on his sword still. He couldn't use his full strength behind his blows because that would cause him to overextend to a fatal degree in such a high-paced and intense fight. Swordsmen who used two swords usually made sure they matched for balance reasons –so those who fought with two swords of drastically different lengths had a far more unpredictable style and the mis-matched blades allowed for numerous improvisations that weren't possible with matched blades. There were advantages to each.

She also fought like she was crazy and more than a little dirty and took advantage of openings that were otherwise impossible to use unless the person using them were damn confident, slightly crazy and impossibly fast. Most people would usually dodge, block or re-direct a slash. She instead twisted her shorter blade onto its guard on top of his blade's blunt edge and kicked him in the throat faster than he could react other than using some haki to keep the damage down as she cut into his sleeve and just barely missing with a slice to his chest, although she had gotten his necklace with her longer blade as she had leaped over his blade –before her purposeful deflection of Yoru had sent her skidding back some distance.

Mihawk muddled over the slowly clearing memories of yesterday which included her whispering an alias of hers into his ear during that drinking contest between he, Benn and her. That could be considered flirting behavior, but he really hadn't reacted much to it. He had been focused on getting drunk. "Benihime. You're known as Benihime. And Valentine. You're both."

Mihawk, although curious wasn't going to ask how she was both. He had the feeling that the explanation would involve breaking something like several of the natural laws of the world like it was as easy as breathing.

"No comment about the fact that Valentine is supposedly a guy?" She asked, clearly expecting it.

"No. Gender matters not, and it enables you to travel freely by having such radically different persona."

Mihawk pointedly ignored the fact that Valentine was better known as Bloody Valentine. The Bounty Hunter known to the world as Valentine was infamous for turning in nearly-dead bounties or corpses for bounties, and leaving the various crews and gangs in a similar state. Only a few members and bounties had escaped such a fate, and the only thing that they had in common was that Valentine had said that he was out of ammo before leaving –even if he or rather she had been cutting a bloody swathe through the crew seconds before or so rumor had it –not that he really paid much attention to it or more attention that paid attention to the newspaper anyway.

Sword skills weren't ever mentioned in the rumors he had heard, although claw like wounds were common. However the viciousness was apparent, as was the capacity for mass-murder.

Benihime was considered something like Valentine's female counterpart by rumor although she was infinitely more approachable but still known as painfully untouchable. That was why she was called Sword Maiden among other things. A woman you can look at but you can't touch for if you do -you pay quiet dearly for it –quite like the rumors about his fellow warlord Boa Handcock and Amazon Lily. There were several less pleasant names she was known by such as Bloody Bitch –Mihawk knew the last was because she would supposedly hound and track a target with a dogged persistence and supposedly by smell –but she at least turned in more people alive than dead as Benihime.

Knowing how alike she and her father were from what little he had observed told Mihawk he needed to look at those pirates and their crimes a little closer to find what had angered her enough that her anger would only be appeased by blood and death.

Since Valentine was female (and Benihime obviously was), there was also how often those massacres occurred. It was well known fact to any seasoned pirate that had sailed in a mixed crew that female pirates weren't the most regular when it came to their cycle and that made all the symptoms associated with that dreaded cycle all the worse. Simply annoyance could easily transform into a murderous black rage.

Shanks did have a temper, but it was damn hard to provoke it unless someone threatened someone dear to him at which point it was considered either attempted suicide or successful suicide via Shanks' saber. Mihawk would later wonder if she had a shorter fuse than her old man or if she there was some proof behind the old wives' tale of red heads and tempers.

"Which is exactly the point." She replied with a seemingly cheerful smile that promised a day of reckoning if he ever considered telling the World Government about her being Valentine. He truly didn't care anyway.

She seemed perfectly fine being known as Benihime since that was what her father called her. The feeling of possible impending doom did not stop her from smiling and seeming perfectly nice and cheerful. That had to clearly be her mother's influence –she had to be a scary woman to keep someone so like Akagami in line. He did however have to wonder exactly how she had gotten away with such a charade like that of Valentine on the Grand Line since there were several people would and could probably sense her gender.

"The World Government would probably welcome you to the ranks of the Shichibukai if they could find you. Either of you." They probably would, even if both persona weren't pirates.

He honestly had no idea how Benihime wasn't considered a pirate or have a bounty poster as he had paid attention to the rumors about her. Half-decent swordsmen were everywhere but a highly competent swordswoman? That was worth his interest as it was something _different_. If he hadn't found her here he would have considered trying to track her down himself -to see how much was fact and how much was fiction.

"They can try to, just like the rest of the world. They just have to find me first –and ask politely. I guess I do have a reputation for being something of a ghost and showing up randomly wherever –in both guises."

That grin wasn't reassuring in its familiarity at all as her body posture and language changed from bored bartender to something primal and predatory before slipping into something that was purely Shanks. Ah, so she did have potential to match her old man in the way of the sword.

"It's just hard to be as serious as Val has to be for longer than a week. It gets depressing and lonely and boring."

Mihawk tried not to show the fact that he was annoyed because he was somehow insulted and she knew that she was insulting him. Or she might not. Akagami wasn't the most astute person when it came to that.

"Besides, it isn't like I'd listen. Pirates will always be pirates after all. It's far more fun than being a stuffy marine or a citizen that's never traveled beyond their home shores. "

Mihawk nodded his agreement to that.

"Being a travelling bounty hunter does have its advantages particularly if no one can connect you to it. Nothing is off limits –I can travel through the Marine controlled channels or by visiting Fishman isle. It's just sad that some small changes in appearance can do all that though. Good bounty hunters, on the other hand, just get paid –a lot more. Hide a portion of the loot and sell the weapons and that later and that can usually cover my bar tab."

If she had inherited Shanks' liver then the loot would be needed. The Red Force held enough liquor to get several small armies drunk and Shanks could drink a third of what would be needed to get a small army drunk. That did bring up a question though.

"How old are you again?"

"Now that is rude, asking a lady her age and all." She pouted.

Mihawk ignored that.

"Shichibukai or not, I'm still a pirate. Pirates don't have to be polite. I just prefer to be." Mihawk replied and was rewarded with a positively predatory smile that had rarely graced Shanks' face but when it did –a better fight was extremely hard to find. So she _truly_ _was_ a catty woman and Mihawk had the feeling that he had managed to place himself in a dangerous position. The predatory smile wasn't assuring in the least.

"Stick around for a week and I'll be eighteen."

Mihawk restrained his jaw from dropping and merely blinked instead but she laughed exactly like Shanks at his carefully hidden shock. Part of that shock was for the amount of skill she wielded, and part of that was because doing the math meant that she was young enough to be his daughter by several years. She would be eighteen and Shanks was still several years shy of forty. She had to have been conceived sometime before the Pirate King died. Shanks would have been seventeen or so.

"Do you need something to drink, Hawk-eyes?" She asked with a teasing smile that was just cruel to see in action –and Mihawk was learning to associate these feminine gestures to the influence of her mother even as she wore her father's face. No wonder a teenaged Shanks fell hard and fast. If her mother was half as good then it was little wonder.

Despite his hangover his eyes were in fine working order and she was strong and beautiful. He was in a very, very dangerous position. She was the daughter of Shanks, someone who he considered to be something of a friend although he'd rather die than admit that, and even if she could take care of herself –there was still Shanks to consider as well. It was very dangerous territory that he had managed to find himself in even without the possible tangle of the father to consider. The daughter had plenty of weapons that were probably as sharp as her blades and that she was equally familiar with. She already knew how to wield politeness like a knife and the white sleeves did a decent job at hiding a few throwing knives.

Somehow he managed to find his voice to ask, "Does that mean that I have to find you a gift?"

"I'd say a few sword lessons, but I doubt they'll happen." Her left hand stopped propping her up as she sat up straighter and tapped her pursed lips with her index finger. He noticed that her nails were rather longer than he associated with any dedicated sword practitioner and painted a soft gold. He marked it as unusual and moved on. "I have plenty of money. I'm fine on ammo, my sharps, clothing and all my usual supplies." She gave a depressed sigh before she perked up with a pleased expression. "Guess that means that I just need some company."

Mihawk tried not to read too much into that last statement given how flirtatiously she had said it. Shanks would kill him. He was older than her father after all by four years exactly as the two of them had the same birthday –that had sparked more than a few hangovers for them both over the years.

She gave a throaty and deep chuckle at what had to be showing on his face -which meant that like his rival she had been teasing and playing with him. Mihawk suppressed the urge to frown or scowl. It would only worsen the morning's headache. Since this was Shank's ship, it wasn't a good idea to have a headache since very few on ship were conductive to curing a headache.

"Since you're up and aware, I'll go and steal your bed. I haven't been there yet." She suddenly said as she before she walked towards the galley's swinging doors and well aware of what such a statement did to men should they misinterpret it. She stopped at the gallery's swinging doors and turned back towards him. "If any of the crew asks, I am not in any way responsible for any artwork left on the crew. The little green fairy was."

It took him a few seconds to translate that from Shanks-logic to normal people logic. Apparently, unlike everyone else, she hadn't slept the alcohol off and stayed awake and bored -or not so bored- as she sobered.

Mihawk was left in silent contemplation about the conundrum that was Shanks' daughter. He must have truly been in deep thought as next thing he knew he had a glass of something alcoholic in hand and his longtime rival and dare he say it –friend, was seated next to him.

"Eh? So she got to you too? She got that from her mother. This gallery is set up exactly like the bar she runs." That explained why Shanks' daughter was so at home on the ship. A traveling recreation of home or someplace she had spent large amounts of time in, on her father's ship. It would be like she had never left home at all –although he knew that she had left home some time ago. This was the second half of the Grand Line after all.

"Her mother must be some woman." Mihawk replied.

"That they both are." Shanks replied, rubbing a spot on his left arm with his right. "They're both unforgettable."

Mihawk turned to look at Shanks and was tempted to laugh.

"Are you aware that someone has played tic-tact-toe on your face?"

"Who won? X's or O's?"

"X's." He confirmed. "Are you still drunk?"

"Seems like it."

* * *

Throughout the week Shanks' crew had cheerfully cursed his daughter as they tried and failed with retaliatory pranks. Some of those pranks were quite inventive, and enjoyable to watch fail but she dodged those and most other attempts easily and retaliated in due time if not amazingly promptly. Those that tried to get her while she was asleep somewhere on the ship quickly were dissuaded otherwise –dodging throwing knives tossed disturbingly accurate at them, as leaving one unfortunate man pinned to the wall by his shirt and pants proved_ while she was asleep_- were decisive arguments. It was part of why she stole _his_ bed on Shanks' ship so often –sleeping in the same room as the crew was unthinkable and apparently her father's bed just wasn't comfy and had only gotten worse since she had last done so as a child.

She had doodled on several of them various things and the best of them was a tie between the surprisingly accurate map of both East, South and West Blue on Lucky Roo's face and the sea king on Yassop's arm. Several others had a list of drinks, how many drinks they had and the alcohol content the drinks had, and how many hours they spent consuming that amount. A few were annoyed that they had been declared lightweights but took it in good humor.

As the marker ink faded from their bodies, Mihawk had clashed blades with the two redheads several more times that week in short but fairly intense spars. Shanks was as good with a blade as he remembered and his daughter showed promise of reaching that level in the future but not without a few more years under her belt. As it stood, she would never be a power-fighter and so his title was safe, but she could easily outclass the majority of swordsmen that were around the world. With work she could be a credible threat to his title, but it was clear that like her father she had no desire for such a title as she would be declared the fastest swordsman and not the strongest. She had an amazingly fast draw.

That's not to say that they hadn't injured each other, but she was fast enough to get nothing but close shaves, scrapes, a few nicks and the occasional nick that was long enough to qualify as a cut. She was good at dodging and deflecting sword strikes. Occasionally, she had her hair trimmed by his sword by a little. In one instance it was quite a lot and so she had promptly demanded that he cut the hair evenly. Their spars usually meant that he had the rare bit of damage to his coat –in particular the sleeves at his shoulders- and he had to fix his necklace three times. Once she had managed to knock off his hat, steal it and run away with it in a way, laughing in a way that was best described as perfectly Shanks-like that left him stunned stupid and feeling like he needed to drink a large portion of Akagami's alcohol. He later did so during her birthday party. He was either distracted or drunk enough that the irony of her birthday and the name of one of her persona wasn't noticed until weeks later.

* * *

Two days after Shanks's daughter turned eighteen she had disappeared –along with his hat of all things. Shanks had only laughed when it had turned up missing and then the rest of his crew had joined in –before realizing that Shanks had an old black coat disappear on him, Benn was missing a sash and several other crew members had either had something disappear on them or be hidden from them on the ship. The coat, sash and hat didn't turn up when the ship –and the bay they were docked in- was searched.

It was two weeks later and after he had begun his preliminary research by looking through old newspapers that the news coos deposited at his home in Kuraigana, that he realized that Valentine had been around and well known as a bounty hunter for a few years and she was only just recently eighteen. What the hell had she been doing in that amount of time in-between? It was the same for Benihime. It seemed he would have to do some more research out of the government's watchful eye –which although Mihawk was a swordsman first and foremost- was relatively easy to do.

Two months later he had constructed a reasonable timeline. Valentine had first emerged in East Blue; about a month after Akagami's daughter had turned fifteen with two known Valentine incidents in that year, with the occurring six months after the first. Later, she as Valentine had crossed between East Blue and South Blue quite often while she was sixteen. The first few islands on the Grand Line had also seen an incident of a Bloody Valentine during that year. It was two months and a week after her seventeenth when the first Valentine visit had hit North Blue. That was insanely good travel time all around, and an almost miraculously good travel time considering the Grand Line's notorious weather instability and the distance involved –but unreasonable considering the amount of time that had to be involved in tracking those she had massacred down. Another Valentine massacre hit deep in West Blue not a little over a month later. That amount of travel from North Blue back to Fishman's and then to that isle in West Blue would be impossible –even for the things a person saw regularly on the Grand Line. So there was more to the daughter of Shanks than he had thought.

Benihime had first emerged in West Blue, although there were unconfirmed rumors about her being from East Blue. He had also plotted out her course from various article –he didn't have anything better to do and this took a surprisingly little amount of time to do- and came up with one solution.

Doing the bit of mental math and figuring out the places she had visited and been seen at had her making above average time to anywhere she wanted to go. He was much rather annoyed that he hadn't picked up on the fact that as Benihime she was known to use a single and massively heavy katana. So it was soon obvious that she had a way of ignoring the dangers posed by the Calm Belts and crossing them without issue and that the katana wasn't nearly as heavy as various people reported or else she couldn't move.

Shanks' daughter also wasn't affiliated with the World Government at all. If anything, by the conversations they had had during that week she was more likely to join or to have joined the revolutionaries however bribable she might prove to be with good fine wine and something sweet.

His rival with red hair was right. She was an unforgettable lady and not just for her mystery or sword skills. He also wanted his hat back. The weather was annoying without a hat.

* * *

A/N; Both Mihawk and Shanks share a birthday –March 9th. Surprisingly, Franky also shares that same B-day. After the timeskip, Mihawk is 43, while Shanks is 39. They both look awesome for their age though and are totally drool-worthy. One Piece wiki is helpful for things like that.

Speaking of Mihawk, I really dislike the stories where Mihawk's character is warped. He's a highly practical and solitary man. He's also methodical and a serious BAMF. He _is not_ a perverted womanizer however, amusing the image is. He is however, one hundred percent human male. He's tempted but few people actually hold his interest for very long. Shanks is one of the few and is something of a friend. Mihawk has few allies and fewer friends (a.k.a. Shanks, possibly his crew and only Shanks, respectively) and a hell of a lot more people as enemies. You don't become the best in the world without attracting a world full of enemies of varying levels of ability.

Dracule Mihawk is also the only Shichibukai whose strength is based totally on natural human skill, being completely human, and possessing no Devil Fruit powers (Doflamingo is assumed to have eaten a Devil Fruit for his 'puppet' powers). During Marineford, while everyone else was sporting serious injuries and casualties, Mihawk remained unharmed and unscathed even when fighting against Vista –Whitebeard's fifth commander and presumably Whitebeard's best swordsman. He's that damn awesome. People in One Piece get to be ridiculously powerful, but Mihawk remains as one of the top contenders for as 'most powerful _living_ character' for a reason and if there was a list of 'most powerful_ living_ characters' he'd be in the top ten. He's already the best damn swordsman in the world. Swordsmanship is a serious and dedicated art. Mihawk as the best swordsman in the world and is the epitome and living incarnation of this.

Yes, this means that Akiyaki/Valentine/Benihime is pretty bad-ass. She's a speed fighter and her reflexes are refined to the point that she consciously doesn't have to think about the best course of actions on the battlefield or against someone. Even if that path is straight-up suicidal, she'll make it successful. Yay for occulmency! It gives an unparalleled ability to multi-task! So using haki for things like that is as easy as breathing!

By the way, if someone steps on a blade, it is usually the near the tip. Not the guard, not the handle and definitely not on the back of the blade where a quick flip of the blade can cause her to lose a leg before she could step off. Or in this case, an arm before Mihawk can flip his blade around. The surprise of using such a move and the speed was what allowed her to land the kick to the throat on Mihawk.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Time Skip! By a year and a month. Ace is 18. Akiyaki is 19. Sabo is _almost_ 18. Luffy is fifteen.

**1/22/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 11: An Outside View

Marco the Phoenix was slightly worried about his new nakama, Portgas D. Ace. The young man who had only turned eighteen just a month before he fought Shirohige had finally accepted being part of the crew -as proven by the symbol tattooed large across his back. It looked good on him.

He had attempted to kill the old man over a hundred times, some attempts even drawing blood which was _far_ more than expected by the majority of the crew and even the commanders. He truly was a monstrously strong young man. A large number of people couldn't believe that was from _East_ Blue at all.

Then again, his new nakama was completely shameless when it came to his wants as he had shown between assassination attempts. When he was healing he had raided the kitchen and other's plates wearing nothing but bandages and boxers without a care in the world –casually beating up those that had protested, although he said sorry, please and thank you when needed. The nurses loved him for some reason –which was more than a bit odd as they usually hated anyone who caused harm to their health by doing stupid stuff.

When Ace was sleeping during that month he always held some sort of weapon in his hands with his back against a wall unless he had a narcoleptic fit where he at least tried to do so before he fell asleep. He briefly wondered what would cause that level of paranoia in someone that strong.

When they had formerly absorbed all of the Spade Pirates into the crew they had also transferred Ace's belongings from his ship to his new cabin. The Whitebeard pirates were surprised at the fact that there were feminine belongings in the Captain's Quarters of his ship. A quick explanation from quickly made conscious Spade Pirate informed them that the female belongings were from a red-haired lady who had only visited them a few times and then usually to mooch off of them for a few days, speak with Ace or spar with him on a seemingly equal level. They apparently communicated often using birds as messengers –and not with the news coos who were known to actually thrive in a place as crazy as the Grand Line. They used roc-hawks.

Roc-hawks often got far larger than people size –even ship sized- and would known to eat people at times. Ace often and only referred to her as Yajuu-hime and Kijo.

Marco knew no one by those epitaphs and the former Spade Pirates weren't telling anything more because that was all they knew. They did get something of an idea of her appearance though. She was slender, slightly above average height for a woman, with red hair and violet eyes. In the words of one particularly brave Spade Pirate, just imagine Shanks as a woman with purple eyes and different scars on the face.

The only person Marco knew of that looked remotely similar was the Sword Maiden Benihime who was known to be very beautiful to look at but ultimately untouchable as she was monstrously strong –who no one had ever mentioned having scars. Anyone that fought Mihawk and was able to make it out of the fight alive and with minor injuries was to be admired -usually from a safe distance.

That was why a few months after Ace had joined Pop's crew, Marco was following his newest nakama once they had docked. The Spade Pirates had never been this far in the New World, but Ace seemed like he certainly knew where he was going. Marco called up his mental map of the island. There was an empty clearing in that direction. All that decorated the clearing was a few rocks and some sparse vegetation. He went ahead, taking a few shortcuts that he knew of and could take advantage of thanks to his devil fruit abilities.

A woman that looked to be the same age as Ace was perched as if meditating in the clearing. She fit the description that the Spade Pirates had provided. Her hair was longer than reported and none of the pirates had ever mentioned the bands of silvery _-old-_ scars on her arms or the tattoo of a purple star on her left arm outlined in black.

She did look like the Yonko Shanks probably would if he had gotten on the wrong side of Iva –before Iva had gotten tossed in Impel Down. Shanks would probably make a very pretty lady. Marco then shook his head to rid himself of that image. While close to what Benihime supposedly looked like, it wasn't a match. Benihime had flame-like hair and was mostly unscarred as she only had a few around her waist -or so rumor had it. Benihime was said to have also picked fights with Mihawk and was friends or at least an ally of Shanks –without being a pirate, however close she did come to crossing the line. Marco had no idea how she managed that.

This red-head was sitting on the short rock outcropping with a flat surface large enough to sit on cross-legged. The faded and long black jacket she had been described as wearing was discarded next to her, but she was by no means disarmed. Two short blades with unusual handles were sheathed by her side. An ordinary flintlock was tossed carelessly on the jacket. An unusually large gun was still holstered on her left leg. The sash she was wearing around her waist could be and probably was concealing some more weapons, along with the boots. The thin tank top made it clear that she had very nice chest that was supported by a thin black bikini top. The scarred red haired beauty was also wearing some black shorts that Marco was sure were stolen from Ace some time ago, given that there were four sets of clean women's clothing in Ace's closet.

She didn't even change her position to speak to him or open her eyes. "You've seen me. Now go away, blue bird."

Now that was just rude.

"That doesn't mean my curiosity is satisfied, yoi."

"But you know who I am." She replied in a teasing tone, only cracking an eye partially open. That revealed a glorious shade of purple.

"The one that Ace calls Kijo and Yajuu-hime." Marco replied.

She made a throaty sound of agreement. Marco tried not to imagine not hearing that sound or similar sounds in bed –with her. He failed. He tried to find a way to change the subject without being rude. A minute passed before curiosity got the best of the First Division Commander asked, "Are those Ace's shorts, yoi?"

"They were stolen over three years ago." She replied dreamily.

So they had known each other for at least that long. So she wasn't an enemy -of Ace anyway.

"We were skinny dipping in the summer."

Maybe she was his longtime lover? Ace however hadn't been a pirate that long so that was possible…

"Marco? What are you doing here with that Kijo?" Ace demanded. His posture screamed 'back off!' Marco had the feeling he had overstepped his boundaries here. Lover it sure seemed like.

"Finding out who and what she is to you, yoi." He replied coolly.

"That was noticed, Marco." Ace shot back angrily.

Marco watched as Ace's face and his anger softened when he turned his gaze toward her. "So what held you up from beating the shit out of me for doing something so stupid these past few months?"

"Been traveling, had a major fight that required time-out for healing, training like mad 'cause I had a wicked idea that worked out however painful the testing and refining of it was and more traveling and work. I wonder if that is why people seem to need a vacation after a vacation in the first place?"

"That I don't know, but your work ethic is usually so good that most people don't notice if you're working or not. Hell, I wouldn't have worried so much if you had kept in contact. That doesn't matter at the moment. What I want to know is this; who the hell managed to get the best of you and are they dead or not?" The freckled faced youth but extremely dangerous rookie pirate asked, crossing the clearing with surprising speed to his friend and examining her with a surprising amount of dexterity, expertise and tenderness.

Bright violet eyes blinked open. "He was a lighting logia who had haki and devil fruit minions who also had haki. If the logia had a bounty in beri, I estimate a 500,000,000 beri bounty and the minions at max reach around 250,000,000 beri. One of them was up into the 300,000,000s. 340,000,000 or so, I estimate. That one's is beyond dead anyway, so who cares? (1)"

"So why go after those with no bounties?"

So Ace knew a bounty hunter then? That explained the lack of wanted poster, but not the lack of infamy. This was the New World after all. It also didn't explain anything else either.

"In beri. There are other currencies around. They had ones in Birkia's currency –when Birkia as a country still existed. I did get paid for a number of them, and then the place went boom so it was moot. Kazehana was motivation for the most part. Vacations shouldn't mean more work. I'm actually really disappointed in myself for loosing that one particular minion's body. Do you think sea kings are still called sea kings if they live the clouds?"

Marco had no idea where this Birkia was, but Ace apparently did. It was apparently a town on one of the Sky islands as that was the only place that he knew of that had cloud seas.

"Ah. Ryoko was with you?"

Ace received an impressive 'are you an idiot?' stare. Marco gave it an 7.6 out of 10.

"Dumb question. Who else was involved in that particular mess?"

"My favorite pair of thieves too. Birdbrain. The rest were elsewhere."

So she was a pirate lady instead? She wasn't making any sense -not that he knew a woman that did but none were that confusing. Marco didn't know much about bounty hunters beyond the fact that they were usually scum preying on the unwary and gullible. Why did Ace have to give him such headaches?

"So every bastard up there is dead?"

"A few of the minions might not be, but it mostly depends if they managed to get back up or not. I wasn't in a condition conductive to checking." She paused for a moment. "The logia might be alive. He's missing his wings if he is, though. I remember having him pinned to the ground with a sea-stone stiletto knife and removing them before blacking out. I still have the stiletto if you're wondering. I was rather angry at the time –and slightly crispy."

The mention of wings which pretty much confirmed it. So if Birkia was a town on one of the Sky Islands as he thought then which Sky island was it? Was it one that was known –because he hadn't heard of it before? He did know that he hadn't been everywhere on the Grand Line however –just a lot of it.

"Vicious. What pissed you off that much that you lost your temper?"

"An over-inflated ego, general insanity and senseless destruction pissed me off. I deflected the majority of an attack on a place –not Windia as that was a different matter that caused that mess which led to that mess and I am now banned from there- but I felt it for a while. Still am, technically, if only to my pride now. Birkia isn't going to be fine for years, and I'm pretty sure that those overpowered idiots –if they survived- then they've moved on to another of the sky islands. I've had people check, but they didn't find any proof either way. It leaves a nasty taste in my mouth to leave something like that unfinished."

"Lighting you say?" Ace questioned with a tender caress to her face, nudging it up towards him. He also examined her hair. That was unusual. Ace raised an eyebrow at it.

"Yup. My advice is don't even think about it. It hurts. He's pretty good with Kenbunshoku haki, but several notches below me. The Goro Goro no Mi allowed him to pick up any conversations island wide or so I estimate. Any plans that were spoken of were thwarted practically on the spot, but any maneuvers that were named and perfected beforehand were a surprise to him –for a little bit anyway." She replied.

Marco tried not to gasp at what was coming out of her mouth. The Goro Goro no Mi was one of the fruits that were generally known as one of the 'invincible' fruits. The abilities of kenbunshoku haki were amazing, allowing the prediction of movement and the ability to sense and know those around you. Being able to listen to conversations island-wide was phenomenal and he certainly hadn't heard of it being used for before. And she was better than that? The Spade Pirates said she was strong, but that was more than slightly off as it was apparent that they didn't know any _damn_ thing about her. Well Ace did, but he wasn't all that forthcoming with personal information.

"Damn. The one I suck at." Ace commented with a frown.

Marco wasn't entirely too sure about that. Ace, like Pops was aware and capable of defending himself when he slept. Considering his narcolepsy –it was pretty damned developed and for a damn good reason. Waking Ace was _not_ something that was just done easily and without consequence. Thankfully he did sleep light so getting within reflex distance was often not needed as after a few minutes yelling at him to wake up would usually work.

"Yup." She answered cheerfully. Ace's frown deepened into a scowl and he kicked half-heartedly at a nearby rock as he hoisted himself up to where she was sitting on the rocks.

"So who are you, yoi?" Marco asked again.

"Don't you already know?" She replied in an absent minded manner which made it clear that she thought he was an idiot.

"He's awestruck by your looks." Ace suggested with mischievous air.

"He wouldn't be looking at my face then." She commented with a frown.

"He could be trying to place where it is from."

"Point made. He doesn't listen to the rumor mill?"

"He avoids it, usually. Unless it's interesting or something to worry over."

"Huh."

"Call me Red then." She told Marco. "Now, Ace what have-?"

"Fought Jinbe. Three days later and I won (2). Rested. Then fought –"

"Shirohige. Got captured and eventually joined after trying to kill him, I bet. Typical."

"Over a hundred times. He's slower on guarding one side than the other. Not much, but enough that a good distraction could end up killing him. Wouldn't be immediately, or this year or the next, but it's enough to remind me that he's as mortal as the next."

"Everyone is mortal. Everyone knows this. Anyone in a profession that involves violence knows this." She chided him serenely.

"I know this. I did try to kill him multiple times after all, and I did come up with several more plans that would or could have succeeded but my crew's survival wasn't certain and mine even less than that."

That was worrying –he'd have to pick Ace's brains for how that would work out so that he could prevent it. That was his job.

"Hmm. That's a bit worrying actually. I assume you're not going to let something like that happen to him for as long as you can prevent it. He's done gone and adopted you then?"

"He truly has become something like a father to me so I'm not going to let anyone get close enough often enough to find that weakness much less use it. The symbol on my back is my pride."

Silence followed for a bit. Ace and the lady weren't making any sense. They were clearly close, but how close or why they weren't together wasn't becoming any clearer.

She touched his shoulder and ran her hand down his arm where his name was tattooed on it in elaborate but legible script. Marco was slightly envious over the tattoo work there (3).

"I missed your birthday."

"I've missed yours, so we're even."

"Huh. If you're going shirtless, can I keep the ones I don't already have?"

"No."

"Meanie."

"I'm not and you know it. I think we're both missing the birthday coming up soon. By the way, how's he anyway? How's all of them actually?"

"He's happy blotting pages and working and no, I'm not going to miss it -I'll just have to rush. Doing good, all told. His bounty is still lower than yours though which he does and probably will complain about. I actually managed to send him off a message, but the post between us has always been more erratic than between me and you. The other is still a happy-go-lucky idiot, per usual. She's still a mad copy-cat and driving her mother up the wall. Anyone else you want to ask about?"

"Your friends?" Ace asked.

Marco cautiously translated that as 'your crew?'

"Ryoko is as she ever is –and we'll leave it at that. Birdbrain is still obsessed. My kleptomaniac friends still hate daylight in varying degrees. The good Doc and his assistant are being creepy polite and impossible to out-drink –as always. Kazehana is still young and shy but more capable than she was, if slightly traumatized. Like little someone else in that way. She is becoming rather vicious so I think I'll end up having to deal with that soon. Nox is as wicked as ever although he has mellowed some. He actually has shown a sense of humor. Gakou is still chasing inspiration. Shishi is nearby, pretending that he's not."

"That's not everyone."

"The monkey's uncle was his usual self, and so is the one looking after him although far grayer as you've seen. The bird that hangs around them sometimes is doing as well as he ever does."

That was a large number of people. It would help if she had referred to them by name. The only names he had were two females Ryoko who was a unique individual and Kazehana who was an angel from the sky islands and a male called Nox. Only Nox sent of faint bells of remembrance, but Marco didn't remember what for. He'd look for it later or ask Jozu.

"You?"

"Still physically numb at times. Emotionally? I'm frustrated that the logia bastard might still be alive; even after all I went through. I'm annoyed at myself for putting vengeance before business. I'm somewhat depressed that I tied or won but was unable to kill him after all that. I'm angry at not knowing for sure which one it is. If he has gone to another sky island it'll be practically impossible to find him as they move. Plus it is almost that time-"

"The last is too much information."

"I can tease you later then."

"Yeah, yeah. Do it long after I wake up." Ace then became a victim of his narcolepsy and his face planted in her lap which made Marco feel more jealous than he should be. The lady who said to call her Red watched his steady and rhythmic breathing for a few minutes.

"You're going to drown in your soup one day, Ace." She said fondly exasperated as only those that love and have loved can. She ran elegant fingers through his dark hair in a familiar manner. Marco was starting to feel like he was somewhere where he wasn't supposed to be, and seeing things not meant to be seen by others. It seemed that she was as shameless as Ace in her own way.

"So who are you, yoi?"

"You already know that." She giggled which did interesting things to her cleavage. Marco tried not to stare and instead imagined that she was male and didn't have distracting cleavage. It didn't work. He saw Shanks' image and the Yonko was a scary strong bastard if you ever got on the wrong side of him and his crew –he wouldn't be a Yonko if he wasn't. He also held grudges.

"So what are you then, yoi?" Marco asked, trying to be clever.

"I'm Ace's best friend. I'm the daughter of a barkeep. I'm a bounty hunter. I'm someone who has managed to avoid a lot of widespread fame for this face, while taking down large bounties and someone who plans to continue that avoidance until I decide not to or circumstances decide for me. I'm someone who values her privacy. All are true enough."

"And those mentioned?"

"Friends, family, those we both care about." She gave a glance at him that communicated that was all she was going to say.

"So how do you two-?"

"We're childhood friends."

There was that dreamy smile again that did funny things to his libido. Marco was about to ask about some questions that suddenly popped up in his mind.

"The sea and time has been good for him. He's mellowed out." She replied, cutting him off.

"Mellowed, yoi? He was worse!-?" Marco asked, scarcely able to even comprehend something like that being true.

"Yup!" She replied in a cheerful energetic manner. Marco swallowed to wet his suddenly dry throat. That movement should be outlawed as it did very interesting things to her bust -and she knew it. "We've known each other since he was four, although we met twice before that."

Now that was interesting considering how uptight Ace was about his family, friends and home –other than the fact that he had a massive father complex. That was quickly apparent to anyone who saw Ace's first refusal attempts.

"So, any embarrassing stories to share yoi?"

"Only if you are sharing embarrassing stories too." Was the cheerful reply complete with a wicked grin.

"If you tell any embarrassing stories, I'll do the same and then we'll have to make good on that promise from when we were eight –or try to kill each other for nearly the five-thousandth time." Ace threatened and grumbled from her lap.

"In the interest of mutual childhood blackmail, I'll have to skip out on that interesting conversation. I'll take you up on the other side Ace." She told Marco in a manner that said she might actually seek him out to speak with him about that later. Ace quickly got to his feet.

"We're getting down to business then?" Ace asked as he rolled his shoulders and loosened up since he had removed his head from her lap.

"Yeah. A few good spars so that I have an excuse to kick your ass and not feel guilty about it later. First to fifty wins, usual rules for game FF. Sound good?" She shooed Ace off her rock.

She stretched her arms up and in such a way that Marco felt him mouth dry. It was the thin white tank top and a small black bikini top under that tank that made all the magnetizing difference. The thin silvery scars kept his attention on her as the afternoon sun played on the stripes of scar tissue while she moved. She stood up and stretched behind her, and lazily back flipped off of her perch. She then lifted one leg virtually straight up and held it for a few seconds before doing it with her other leg. Marco felt blood rush away to other parts of his body as she did a few more warm-up stretches before settling in a loose but balanced stance.

"Yeah. Let's see if I can I win since I've got some more experience under my belt." Commented Ace, as soon as he had worked out the last of the kinks his impromptu nap had given him.

"Catch!" She yelled at Marco who was trying not to pay attention to her toned muscles and feminine curves. The mythical zoan user caught the object flung at him. It was a stop watch.

"Really now Ace? You just continue thinking that, alright? I'm still pissed that you fought without thinking through all the possible consequences. You're going to feel them from me." A professional and quick cracking of her knuckles emphasized that statement.

"Oi! I knew what I was doing! I beat Jinbe after all! I was only seeing where I stood against the strongest man in the world! I'm only going to feel those consequences from you, if and only if you can make me, Yajuu-hime." Ace challenged her with a cocky grin.

"I believe I can. Hiken Ace." She replied back.

At some unspoken but mutually understood signal they clashed.

* * *

Ten minutes later as according to the stopwatch, Marco was surprised at the amount of devastation the pair had caused while keeping it fast-paced but low-key. They were only 'sparring' after all. The minor but highly controlled use of haki surprised him, but it was clear that they were both holding back greatly.

Marco had heard about her being able to keep up with Ace from the Spade Pirates, but Marco had dismissed it as he hadn't heard of anyone making that big of a splash in the Grand Line that would fit that description. He was regretting that now.

Thirty minutes later and they've only sped up to blurring fast speeds. The only intervals of them stopping were when one landed what would have been a fatal blow on the other if they were fighting for real. More of the terrain was damaged as the spar continued and Marco watched with sharp eyes to determine who was winning against whom more often.

They both weren't using weapons beyond their bodies and Ace wasn't using his logia powers but Marco noticed that they were doing some serious damage to each other without them. She however was only leaving small bruises on Ace due to his nature as a logia and her actually not wanting to kill him –which showed a superb skill in using haki since that amount of precision was hard to come by without hours and hours upon years of practice. She truly could have killed him if the reddening mark over his heart was any proof.

Two minutes later, it was proven that Ace had obviously never approved of stupid chivalry, as a lucky strike sent her towards a tall pine tree but it wasn't a winning strike by whatever rules they were sparring by. She landed on the trunk of the tree and then launched off and left a streak of slowly bleeding scratches on Ace's chest as she rushed past him thanks to inertia.

The spar took another half hour and then they both stopped and during that time she period proved that she actually could pack a punch and used a large piece of shattered stone as a projectile weapon after it was further destroyed. Marco quickly found out from observation that while her punches hurt; her kicks were far more likely to deal heavier damage as proven by a small crater made when Ace had barely dodged. The look Ace's face said that he had been expecting a far larger crater and prepared for it –which explained why he didn't block as that would hurt.

Marco quickly found out that pinpoint use of haki could inflict more damage than one hit full of haki. It was far more controlled. That kick wouldn't have felt all that pleasant anyway considering her boots were known as shit-kickers for a reason.

Five minutes later, Ace was later pinned, face down in the dirt. The infamous rookie pirate had his arms twisted in such a way that Marco knew was painful and was held with only one hand which meant that the hold hurt too much to move or she had been playing with him or he was letting her which made him question if Ace was a masochist. Her boots were planted in the soft tissue at the back of his knee. Thanks to the extra bit of height they granted her put her on an almost equal height with Ace, so he couldn't break her feet but there were a few ways to escape such a hold.

"I win with a score of 50 to 48. You've improved but not my much. When I'm fully recovered I'll see about knocking your score down lower as you've clearly been slacking since I'm not completely recovered yet. My training methods have gotten crazier if you can't tell. They're straight up suicidal now!" She released him from the hold after imparting that cheerful news.

"I'll look forward to seeing you try but I like a number of other people like to sleep occasionally." Ace flopped to his back as she stood above him.

"As fun as always, aren't ya' Ace?" She let herself fall onto Ace and his body. She wiggled until her head was on his chest and murmured something up to him that he was torn between wanting to hear or not. Her back was stretched across his chest and his arm secured her to him by surrounding her waist. Ace murmured something back and glared at him.

Marco feeling strangely like a voyeur of a private and intimate moment quickly placed the stopwatch on top of the discarded jacket and next to the weapons that were left on the only bit of the clearing that wasn't damaged in some way. That was when he noticed that the jacket was over a katana sized blade. Being the curious pirate he was, he flipped back part of the long black jacked, recognized the sword from rumors. That part was consistent at least.

As calmly and as coolly as he ever was he asked, "Do I need to make sure that my newest little brother doesn't lose his virtue to you, yoi?"

"Marco-san."

"Hm?"

"You're a couple of years too late for that, but if it worries you, I won't molest your little brother. However that still leaves room for him to act..." A shrug showed that they remained remarkably close friends and that she was fine with that as she was with being more intimate.

It still was a remarkably blunt statement. He was surprised that she didn't blush.

"We did break up for a reason Marco-san and we're reasonably fine and mature about it. It was years ago after all." A casual wave from her hand emphasized this. Then her expression turned serious. "However, that doesn't mean we still don't care about each other. Ace gets into trouble he can't get out of and I'll hold all of you responsible. I won't care who you are or what I'll have to do." A predatory expression lit across her face. "Benihime is known as the best for a reason."

That made it clear that Ace was perfectly safe. He however wasn't and he was still intruding. So he left. He wouldn't be returning for a while. Ace was still a teenager after all and Benihime was a pretty and willing lady…

* * *

After Marco left, the two youths laughed to themselves with loud, long and only like those that have pulled a successful prank could as they helped each other up.

"And another unfortunate soul jumps to the wrong conclusions about what we're going to spend the afternoon doing." Aki muttered. It was actually quite a long list of people.

"I can't believe I helped with that. Do you know how awkward it is going to be on ship now?" Ace complained jokingly.

He knew she rolled her eyes. Of course she knew. That's why she had talked him into it. Aki was 'evil refined' after all.

"I can imagine." She replied. Of course she could. He knew why, but wouldn't wish it on anybody for a reason. A number of those reasons were why they were on different sides of the law and society –she existed and thrived on the fringes with forays onto each side and he was loose on the seas, free as can be.

"Come visit sometime. Bring alcohol. Private stock, preferably." He told her. He did have to agree with her –a number of places just didn't have good alcohol. His old man had some good stuff but it just wasn't the same as a taste from home –the good stuff that was illegal to sell over the counter.

"Of course I will. Are you sure that they have the tolerance for that?" She asked.

Her private alcohol stock was like her mother's private alcohol stock -extremely potent. Makino usually diluted the stuff and it still could knock a full-grown man out in less than five shots. Aki being the Kijo that she was, often didn't and usually drank straight from the barrel if she could. She had a magnificent alcohol tolerance from both of her parents. Makino didn't look like it but she was well beyond able to hold her own in a drinking contest against anyone -including Shanks. The Yonko alone had the capacity to outdrink a small army and was capable of drinking a bar dry by himself. It didn't mean that she couldn't get drunk –it just took a while of heavy hitting and it was actually work to maintain a solid and blissful buzz.

"That means some of the lighter stuff and maybe some of the showy stuff for them, then. Pops doesn't need alcohol at his age, but it's not like he's gonna listen."

"Reminds me of someone else." She smiled, not that he could see as she was making herself comfy on him still. "I'll take your recommendations under consideration. Also, Ace."

"Yeah?"

"Whitebeard's shadow looms large and hides much." Ace watched as she tapped her face in an unspoken warning. He understood what she meant if he read that flash of haki correctly, but he wasn't going to let caution rule his life.

"That all ya' gonna tell me?"

The next flash of haki told him that Marco had found her sword that she used as Benihime and she had identified herself as such. As always, he humored Yajuu-hime's paranoia.

"I'll be around when I don't sense that particular danger –like today. My ability quite frankly sucks at times. Usually it sucks more than it manages to be useful."

"Huh. Go figure. Messages too?"

"It's the New World. Everything's dangerous so they'll take the same precaution." That translated that there would be an obvious message, a less obvious one and one that no inspection other than his or hers would reveal. "Won't stop all the rumors though so more than a few will be running around like a pack of animals."

A few things clicked into place in his mind.

"You spend far too much time playing, messing with and helping with dangerous creatures." Ace replied, also being as subtle as he could be. He was more than a little clumsy with this form of communication. She had phenomenal control of her haki.

"I wouldn't be me if I didn't." With a teasing smile she turned back to him after she easily pulled herself to her feet.

"Let's take the rest of the day off. I found out that there are some adorable so-called monsters on this island. Check it out with me?"

She extended a hand towards him. He eyed it warily.

"Your definition of adorable means life-threatening with an assortment of fangs, fur, scales and claws."

"Kittens are adorable too."

"Dealing with mountain lion momma cat isn't fun, in case you've forgotten." Ace replied.

The pair then played around on the island until it was time for Ace to get back to the Moby Dick that evening. And yes, he had to agree, the kittens were adorable but large enough to easily eat a full-grown man for a meal if they ever wanted to.

* * *

It was awkward back on Whitebeard's ship for Ace for a while. He had to deal with quite a bit of teasing, and give several explanations that yes, he had a bounty hunter for a best friend –and no, she wasn't going to go after him or any of the Whitebeard crew unless they did something monumentally stupid or offensive. And that yes, she was likely to toss you through a few walls for touching her ass –friend of a friend or not.

The bit of news that Ace was good friends or maybe more with Benihime eventually made rounds on the ship but no further. Rumor emphasized how good the relationship between them was –which lead to a lot of good-natured teasing and Ace muttering explanations that they had broken up and weren't likely to make up without a significant change in both of their circumstances –and that was unlikely to happen.

The other division commanders pressed for a proper and actual name after they learned that Benihime was a nickname but they were denied and so they were properly shocked when Ace actually answered Pops with an actual name –and explained that yes she was fine with a variety of nicknames but some would get knives thrown at you –best friend or not. Some other names were for different jobs.

This was accepted but a few still wanted more information –the nurses were only in on part of it after all, although they switched sides a few weeks later to let Ace keep his privacy. They knew and several of them were worried about after a meeting of the commanders several weeks after Ace had reached the rank of second division commander –a position he had accepted under protest as he edged closer to nineteen.

"She goes by a couple of different names depending on what sort of work she's doing and where but most particularly how she's working. One of them is Benihime. That's actually an old nickname of hers. Kind of sad that a change of clothing, some make-up and some proper hair care make such a difference. That and a few changes in habits to create a seemingly new person that's unrecognizable from the other."

A number of the commanders had to agree, but a few things didn't quite match up.

Vista was the one to bring it up initially. He did want to clash blades with her after all. She semi-regularly fought Mihawk after all.

Those scars for one example of what didn't add up.

The explanation for them was short and concise. "Her first sea king. She and the boat she was on got ate. Then she had to swim. It was ages ago." Shrug.

Another question was, "Why isn't she known to have them?"

Their answer was, "She normally wears long sleeves and it's amazing what a bit of make-up can do. Most people also don't know to look for them so they don't. You haven't spread this all around the Moby Dick have you?"

After assuring him that it hadn't spread beyond the commanders all Ace said was, "Good. Keep it that way."

Izo, ever the romantic, asked why they broke up. The answer was grumbled but they got one. "We wanted different things more than we wanted each other."

Another commander pressed for more.

"I wanted the freedom of the sea and sky. To see the world and make my own mark on it and its history. To have the world learn my name and known me as my own person. I think I succeeded at that, so I'll have to find something else."

"And she wanted what?"

"She doesn't mind most pirates as long as they don't terrorize, kill or exploit people too much. She's a little weird about that. She doesn't have a problem with the law either –she's probably broken more of them than I have and far more frequently. She just takes steps to not get caught at it. That's not the reason why though. Watch her out on a hunt and it's amazing. She truly comes alive then. She likes dealing with the uncertainty of _absolutely_ everything that such an endeavor entails. She likes that nothing in her profession is absolute, the politics, the policy, the people, customs, allies and enemies. It's fluid, ever-changing and always dangerous if in varying degrees and how it is dangerous. It's something that demands absolutely everything to get as good as she is. The money isn't even really considered until far later. That's just a public excuse for her pride –that and the thrill. She's rather amusing like that. Asking her to become a pirate after seeing that just didn't come to mind."

Thatch commented that it sounded like he was still in love with her. All Ace did was shrug and say, "Maybe."

Haruta was the one that brought up a question that none of the other commanders had thought to ask.

"Why has she been known as a bounty hunter for years, while you've been a pirate for about two?"

Ace blinked at them. "I thought it was obvious. You guys haven't realized it?"

"Realized what?" They chorused.

"She's older than I am."

That response provoked a number of responses. Most notably, cheering and belated congratulations along with a few condolences for the two of them breaking up –which Ace considered crazy as that was literally years ago.

* * *

A/N; When I started and first finished this chapter, it wasn't this long. It grew by at least 2,000 words and that's discounting the author's notes because of editing.

1. Yes, I'm talking about Enel. Enel destroyed Birkia in cannon several years before he went to Skypeia. In this story he had more of a fight on his hands. Unfortunately all his cannon minions are alive because I say so. He did have more minions but he was still rather new with his powers and helped fry some before Birkia, Aki and friends fought back. Birkia is around and able to recover in this story -but not for years yet and some of the Birkians are still alive. Windia will be explained during one of my original arcs.

2. Jinbe, is an awesome and powerful character. So is Ace in cannon OP. Ace was known as monstrously strong but in cannon he only had Luffy and the animals to train with. In this he has trained for years against people who could keep up with his natural strength -one way or another. Also in cannon they limited the spars to fifty a day for each person. So in cannon Ace would have only fought 50 spars a day compared to the 150 in this story which also upped his stamina and pain-tolerance. The different rules for the spars or 'games' were invented to work on some other aspect or skill while having fun. Also he has been working with haki for years as has had Aki as something as a rival.

3. Due to Aki's influence he has changed his wardrobe and tattoo slightly -and Sabo isn't dead. We do know that he has more than one of that hat anyway. The gloves are there for a reason -partly as armor and partly to match his boots but mostly for the fact that while Aki was traveling in the blues she didn't have to send roc-hawks as post birds and could use just about anything else -including owls as such. I don't think Fuusha village has a Den Den Mushi. bayanghitam. (remove this space) deviantart. (remove this space) gallery/24984395#/d1drgfs


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Yes, I'm still time-skipping around. This is _almost_ One Piece cannon start. Not there yet. It's been a little over a year since last chapter give or take a week or two. In Chapter 11, it was mentioned that Ace had just turned 18 before fighting Whitebeard, and the end of Chapter 11 took place a few months later –Ace is rather taciturn about mentioning family at all.

Ace is 20. Aki/Benihime/Valentine is 20. Sabo is 19. Luffy is 16 for a few more months.

**1/26/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 12: Interesting Wake-Up Calls

Thatch was more than a bit intrigued about Ace's best friend, the true face behind the mysterious and bloody bounty hunter known to the world as the lovely but decidedly untouchable Benihime. Well, untouchable except for Ace which earned him more than his fair share of teasing –and jealous looks.

It wasn't quite a tale of heartbreak –and trying to make it out as one only got him tossed overboard a few times because apparently what happened between them was private and shall stay as such or they will all suffer the consequences. Being the incredible pirates that were the Whitebeard crew, Thatch had been blissfully confident in his and his nakama's ability to handle anything –even more of Ace's teenage temper tantrums. After all the assassination attempts on Pops, they were _used_ to those.

Ace instead had provided several suggestions of how to successfully sabotage a ship and crew to humorous straits –not dire- and proved those and several others for three solid weeks and he had not gotten caught once at it –even with a few of his brothers watching over his shoulders at all times. That was by a different playbook entirely, but one that Ace was, in his honest opinion, overly-familiar with. It was a playbook where it could range from funny to nasty to just plain vicious. You'd have to blind to miss that implication.

Marco had only been a little pissed –okay a lot- at the end and at him as well –mostly because Ace apparently held very little sacred and off-limits. This list of non-sacred things included things such as sleep, clothing, shoes, some food, a few brands of beer and other names of alcohol and things that weren't non-essential to the working of the Moby Dick and crew. The nurses weren't spared or exempt from this either –they just suffered a very mild version of it. Only Pops was exempt –after he granted Ace permission to do all this to everyone on the crew. Those three weeks were paranoia inducing –and probably would have been worse. Ace had said that he had moderated what he was doing unlike what he'd done and was done to him before he was a pirate.

They still didn't like that Ace had managed to teach Stefan –who was Pop's lap dog, him being a great big loveable mutt to a normal sized person- to open cabin latches and slip into various bunks, beds and hammocks. Doggie kisses were not pleasant things to wake up to. Neither was the fact that Stefan had somehow become a rat-catching -not that they ever had too many of those in the first place but a few did managed to escape notice every now and then- dog and that he liked to eat the things in various people's rooms. Waking up at night hearing the crunch of rat bones was not an experience that anyone wanted to repeat. Smooches from the pooch weren't welcome then either.

Several people didn't want to believe him –mostly those that hadn't watched over him after everyone realized that it was happening and still gotten hit hard. The complaints were that it wasn't moderated at all or other such tripe. Ace had defended himself by saying that there was a lack of dangerous animals that he could get to so no one was waking up with a python in their bedding or in a mountain lion's den or in hotly contested wolf territory. On a ship there was also a lack of natural obstacles and he couldn't just damage the ship for just whimsy. It took them a bit to realize that what he was saying was true –and it explained a lot. _That_ would explain his sleep paranoia but still left most of them confused about everything else. Like what the hell was his childhood actually _like_?

* * *

Over the nearly two years that Ace had been with them -the Whitebeard crew had heard of Ace's brothers and more of his former girlfriend although, Marco and a few others had cornered Ace into spilling a bit more of personal information after a large amount of time and large amounts of alcohol were spent –on all of the commanders. Looking back, it probably wasn't needed but it was a good idea at the time.

Apparently there were downsides to being a guy made of fire –such as if he lost too much self-control, parts of his body would become fire and literally burn the drink out of his system. A person has to be a person in order to get drunk. That was a total buzz-kill which made needling all the information out of him all that much harder.

Thankfully the getting Ace alone bit was easy after he got promoted to second division commander –he accepted after getting the permission from the more powerful members that could have been overlooked that had been in the division for longer than he'd been alive that had technically been 'passed over' for their younger brother. Tradition demanded that the anniversary of each commander becoming commander was to be celebrated in something of a commander's only party –which was a ready-made excuse to party sixteen times a year. Most of that information was just confirmation of what they knew or suspected. One tidbit was more than a little surprising. Although after meeting her in person, he did have to agree with Ace's previously expressed sentiment –pretty and deadly and remarkably _alive_ when on the prowl.

Only five division commanders and Pops knew of some the aliases she used while working –specifically that of Valentine –and that only in the last six months. Benihime was known to most of the ship through rumor and such as something as an ally –Valentine was the name that provoked nightmares. That the same person was both was more than worrying. It suggested a very nasty temper –which she had, as Ace confirmed.

She was certainly unique, like a lot of people on the Grand Line. Breaking the jaw of one of the pirates under his command, having it fixed and then returning the still unconscious pirate to his crew was just one example of how she was like a small red whirlwind.

He could still remember the night clearly –something that was a bit surprising given how much he had drunk at the time.

* * *

A number of commanders were in on the plan to wheedle more information out of Ace had challenged him to a drinking contest –one after another. So a number of them were out or too drunk to remember much. They didn't know about Ace's fire-granted immunity then.

The room that the commanders had commandeered took up the greater half of a well-frequented bar's second floor –it was a room for 'private parties' of some other fancy way of saying this room is used for anything you can pay for and we'll clean up after as long as the walls and windows weren't broken. So far, the commanders had contributed nothing but lots of empty bottles and barrels, lots of empty plates and a few bodies. They had managed to get those most likely to sing off key in the drinking contest first so the number of bawdy off-key renditions were limited.

Then door was then kicked in, a body of some familiar looking pirate was pressed forward to the table with a demand to know, "Who does this idiot belong to?"

Izo being rather sober in comparison pointed out a passed out commander before leveling a pistol at her which she didn't react to. She then looked at the downed commander. Thatch didn't remember who, but he did remember the she reacted to that.

A blink, a comment of, "How bloody irresponsible can a guy get?" before letting the person she had returned to them crash into the nearest passed out commander and a fluid move to steal what Kingdew hadn't finished before he passed out and a cool solid tip back of the quart-sized cup to down the pint and a half left in it –without a grimace at the strength of the booze Kingdew usually indulged in. Instead she held the empty cup like it had given her the answer to all of her problems. That was impressive.

"Stressed much?" Ace asked the woman with the long red hair. The question caused her fingers to twitch and practically destroy the large mug that she carefully placed back in Kingdew's hand in a slightly embarrassed manner. It was then that Thatch realized that this was Ace's friend Benihime. A quick once over proved it –pretty but not his type. She had curves, but she also clearly had far too much muscle to be as soft as he liked.

"Nah, nah. Very annoyed but no longer stressed. Idiot here," a pat on the guy's back, "practically ruined my night. I was finally able to beg off that one shirt that I'd been envying for since I saw it with a promise that 'No, no, it wouldn't get ruined. Promise.' Gotta give the barman some credit for getting a mickey past me, but this lug didn't have to ruin the shirt since I looked drunk and easy 'cause of that. Food and greases stains all-over my chest."

"That bastard." Izo commented. He wasn't exactly sober, but more sober than a number of them. His pistol was back where it was supposed to be.

"Your shirt looks fine." Marco who was designated the sober one of that party commented. Jozu had skipped out sometime before Kingdew passed out. How, Thatch didn't remember.

"This is new. Stolen from I don't care where, but very nice nonetheless. The cut and embroidery is really quite lovely." The red head informed Marco.

"It does look good. Whatever is still in your system?" Ace asked.

"Yes. Yes, it is. It's why I broke his jaw instead of just giving him a good backhanded smack like I intended while robbing him of all he had on for the same reason. That was oops, and I was pissed at the oops but people couldn't tell, so the place vacated pretty quickly but those that I were with, were rather angry too –I mean it was her top that got ruined along with that klepto's belated birthday bash not that they didn't pickpocket everyone tha' rushed out. Then I realized that this idiot belonged to someone you knew –symbols are nice like that- and so I decided to return him, but Doc pointed out that returning a man with a broken jaw just wasn't done, so we broke into a couple of hospitals 'cause the first one was more of a clinic and didn't have the equipment needed and then when Doc was fixin' the jaw I went and replaced the shirt but it's not the same. She's gonna either make me pay dearly for it or get back at me in that passive-aggressive, 'I'm far too nice to do such a thing!' and the 'Who? Me?' routine and plot and it'll be a mess for weeks!"

"Did you even breathe while saying that?" Thatch remembered himself asking.

"Yes! They were just tiny breaths." She explained sagely. Thatch remembered that making more sense when he was drunk.

"So were you here on work?" Vista asked –in obvious recognition.

"Not really. Kinda. Sort of. No, yes, there was work but it was the kind that you had to be patient for." She visibly collected herself to stop babbling and exhaled a deep breath.

"So you got guilt'd into a job or errand and this happens. Worst luck ever." Ace stated.

"Shush. Knew you," she gestured towards Ace, "were here before you ever stepped foot on the island but as I could tell that this was clearly a private celebration and I wasn't invited, it'd be ever rude to intrude without permission. Then this lug happened and I babbled the rest." She blinked a few times as cleared her head. "Damn, but that's a horrible first impression."

"Mine was probably more of 'headstrong cocky brat that's got a daddy complex.' No worse." Ace replied. "What'd you get tagged with?"

"Judging by how I feel, felt from earlier and my own knowledge –a really potent muscle relaxer, some of that one drug that paralyzes but you can feel everything but that was practically a trace beyond the fact that it really doesn't work with me nor has it ever and a few other uppers and downers that are local recipes or twisted as such."

"Like what?" Marco asked. This was part of Whitebeard's territory. If something was up, it was their business. They were good sons like that.

"Mire is a West Blue concoction that inhibits thought, movement and some other stuff that I can't remember but it's a local mix. I know what West Blue Mire tastes like –it's really hard to cover up that one's aftertaste so someone probably hybridized that stuff that it's made from since it's different from a pure strand. That's gonna be messy."

"How do you even know that it's Mire?" Marco asked.

"I am friends, and know far too many people who know this stuff and aren't afraid to show their displeasure in such a fash, way. I have really high res, resist, most things won't work, cause of them. I really should know better by now to not. Then there's the practice. Beauty and misfortune walk hand in hand, you know?"

"Mire causes issue with memory?" Vista asked. He wasn't drunk but he wasn't sober either.

"I thought that should be, be, damn clear. Speech too."

"So you're rather fucked up." Ace summarized.

"In all honesty, I judge that if I didn't have such a high resistance to most things that I really should be catatonic now and for, oh, the next three days easy. Two weeks, nine days max, depending on the person given that mix. Doc said so and I agreed. It's annoying. I'll actually have a hangover." She grimaced. "I haven't had one of those since I saw Ryoko's native isle and had to deal with the flora there. Never going there –ever again unless I absolutely have to."

"How'd that mix get past you?" Ace questioned.

"There are many reasons I don't like lightweights. That they don't watch their drink is chief now."

"Wanna join in?" Izo asked raising his glass.

"Love to, but the lady I borrowed the top from and a few others were left without supervi, someone being the voice of reason since the usually sensible ones were off elsewhere or busy with this idiot. Need to make sure that the idiot is alive so I can go after his supplier and all those connected to him before they strangle any leads. Or anything else to him. Creatively."

"Sounds like busy work." Vista commented.

"I don't like it the picture its painting but it is making more sense now –later, now is later than earlier. Some of those drugs in that cocktail aren't approved unless you're damn high up in the medical profession –dangerous but works, unwanted side-effects like death or addiction type of stuff that's gone to special, specialize in an area. Like in the 'needs approval from so high up that it's practically from the Gorosei' unless someone has set up a pharmaceutical factory and is making it themselves. Illegally. Requires some intensive know-how too. That's highly possible. Hmm."

She closed her eyes and leaned on the table while casually stealing Rakuyo's cup to sip while taking slow deep breathes as she flushed further.

"Need a damn good doc for one. Make it so that the proportions of things work, don't interact and don't kill the person. Considering all that… So that's a possible option, and so is that one, but I need to get a second opinion that it can be done that way but the yields won't be high –or that pure. That's an issue by itself. That's unlikely to work at all from what I know, that's impractical but still possible. That set-up requires and is dependent on location. Wasn't that place…? Oh, yeess, that one sounds profitable provided everything is already set up and it's just been placed under un-official management or twisted as such... Cruel, but that mix already says that they really don't care about that. It's also rather close both supply and demand if I'm remembering the locations right since Sip reacts with water and needs to be handled just right or it won't work at all, degrades, but too much… Hmm, that explains why she was targeted in the first place. So it should have just branched out here since the guy was a complete idiot and yes, that makes sense."

A wide grin started stretching across her face. She looked eager and predatory.

"On a hunt then?" Marco asked the obvious.

"Should be later this week, but it's more of a search and destroy than a hunt. If it works out like I think it is gonna, I'll send you a report if you wanna read it since it looks like it just came here based on evidence and a few assumptions but it's still the territory belonging to your Captain. All the hints are just implicit, implies that you'll need to have a taste for horror and suspense to keep your stomach should I be looking at things just right. I need to ask the Doc what some standard prices are on the black market for a couple of things to narrow down the possibilities. Get him to be something of a leech too –need to test that possibility on a few people in a couple of places. Can help narrow that down should the barkeep idiot not know anything. Sober up some and recover which'll take two days should I work a flush and quick detox to get any trace out. Explain all this which'll take a half hour or more, and I'll need Doc's samples analyzed by then, so we'll be out in three days minimum. Depending on the situation, then I might have to get Valentine in on it –price of ammo be damned."

"Sounds serious then." Ace commented. "You still feeling Mire'd?"

"Yup." She then drained the Rakuyo's cup with the same ease she had Kingdew's earlier.

"Gah, the logistics of after if I'm right. I really should just off-load this onto the Marines but the nearest base isn't full of the most competent or intelligent people around to say the least. They need brains transplanted or something. Not to mention that some of them are bought, but they're not mine and I'm sure that I've pissed off their owner a few too many times."

She walked towards the open window, and turned back to Ace.

"By the way, Ace, congrats on your promotion. Tell me the exact date it happened so that I'll drop in on the anniversary; bring some fireworks and alcohol –or maybe just the alcohol. No need to tempt fate."

She looked at the rest of the commanders and the room. "As for the rest of you lot –stop trying to pump information out of Ace like that- it's rude." She scolded, and then brightened. "You're more than welcome to write. I'm horrible with den den mushi."

Then she dropped out of the window onto a patron that was looking like he was going to hurl –that Marco later told him that she had practically molested while stealing practically everything he had of any worth that he had on him- before disappearing.

"How doesn't she have a bounty?" Izo asked.

"Getting a bounty require getting caught doing something against the law and politics. She's smart enough to not be. Mire puts the average person down for like a day, coherence happens like next day later. Told you that's she brilliant." Ace replied solemnly as he drank down his own tankard.

"Then what about that Valentine hunter fellow?" Vista asked.

"It's why Valentine doesn't have one either. No proof. She's careful like that."

A few moments passed before Haruta –who while heavily buzzed, was a mostly silent and contemplative drunk asked, "She's both? That's a damn good disguise."

"Shit." Ace cursed. "Are you drunk Haruta?"

* * *

She did send the report to them a month later –it was horrifying, well-written with profiles of the key-players, names of the businesses, general targets, general history of the operation- and the report was marked by several hands of varying comments that made a bit of sense once thought about. 'Plant food' in a person's status was rather self-evident.

The warm but annoyed way Ace spoke of his friend a.k.a. Benihime and the reputation of Valentine a.k.a. still his best friend, were at utter odds with each other –unless general insanity, the tendency to cause a bloodbath and a complete and utter disregard for life-threatening danger counted. Disregard for just about anything really.

Even the skill set associated with each was different. Valentine was a gunner who could melee rather well with a blade or claws depending on the rumor you listened to –and was a certified loner. Benihime was a friend or ally of Shanks and was known to have matched blades with Mihawk on a few occasions. The Spade Pirates had seen her and Ace get into a few fights that went way over their heads, and once a knife fight –although that was more of them tossing the blades back and forth. Marco had seen her spar with Ace once. The fact that he was curious about her was why he was going to visit Ace late this morning.

That was not the only reason however.

Ace was late to breakfast. While it was not out of the realm of possibility that Ace's narcolepsy had made him miss breakfast it was considered pretty unlikely knowing his appetite. Ace never missed a meal if he could help it.

While the pair of them hadn't met up alone that they –the Whitebeard crew- knew of since the first and only time she was seen by Marco, they did know of her somewhat through the messages exchanged by roc-hawks wearing a variety of amusing and often recognizable hats made less amusing in that the roc-hawks were like those who wore them.

The hawk dubbed Mihawk (it had a similar hat to the swordsman, but they were told that his name was Dracky) could actually wield a blade and had beaten several swordsmen on ship and currently had a rivalry with some of the more juvenile swordsmen.

The hawk wearing a strawhat had sent Ace into a rolling laughter fit that ended and started several times due to his narcolepsy as it tackled into him and nuzzled him –and totally forgot that it was nearly the size of Pops. The most frightening thing about roc-hawks was their sheer size as they could get larger than most small ships. Thankfully the Moby Dick was a huge ship so the roc-hawk could safely land on it –even if he was the same size as their old man when they were little fledglings.

Some of the few letters exchanged were amusing letters and contained thoughts such as, 'If Marco stays as a phoenix long enough does he molt and can I have a feather if he does?' or 'Why is Vista wearing gloves now?' or 'Does Marco sing like a bird if he sings as a phoenix or should he be banned from ever tweeting?' or 'How much was Jozu last appraised for –and I'm not talking about the price on his head?' Another hilarious question was 'Does Speed Jiru ever run into obstacles –like the mast or the door? Walls would get boring and broken after a while.' Less hilarious but still amusing was the question –sent by a regular hawk for once to Marco- politely inquiring where he got his sandals. Another by a regular hawk was sent to the nurses whose message boiled down to, 'I lost a bet. Where did you get your uniforms?'

Other letters were information sensitive and things that were never to be trusted to go through a Den Den Mushi such as information about a slaving operation that she needed help taking out –as it was just that damn big –and apparently profitable on her side as she had obtained several bounties from it, but that was just a nice side benefit. The main reason that she had requested help was that a friend of hers got napped and they don't keep people at the auction house unless a sale was due soon.

It was totally unfair that Marco and Ace had done that job with her help although they had never met as it was an operation that spanned both sides of the Red Line and she worked on the side of Paradise. It was partially successful as all of the suppliers were taken out. The demand wasn't as, 'there were multiple dragon like fish there and a fisherman who nearly caught the king.' Or once Ace had translated the message sent by Den Den Mushi –which was apparently something big as she didn't like them _at all_- referred to multiple Tenryuubito with their various military accompaniment called Admirals and Garp, which completely explained why the auction house wasn't destroyed. Monkey D. Garp was scary bastard, even if Ace called him a shitty geezer.

There was also several that contained useful information about Marine movements and the creative bit of accounting that went on and where –Ace had copied that information down and re-routed the bird to someone he knew called Sabo –who he had said was a brother to him and the sanest of us all.

The only Sabo that Thatch knew of was Sabo, the 'Gentleman' of the Top-hat pirates who had joined the revolutionaries almost two years ago before he became a well-published author of not only propaganda and various conspiracies that had been hushed up over the years but some of the insane adventures that had happened to people, pirates and the like.

It had been proven that Ace could make the simplest things complicated. Why did his family have to be so crazy? Thatch and Marco purposely ignored the fact that as part of Whitebeard's crew they were all family and thus they were all brothers.

Several people wanted to know how she knew how and what she did to get those useful bits of information but Ace ended that attempt at interrogation by pointing out that he didn't know exactly –as if he knew absolutely everything that went on in her head. He knew how her thoughts usually went but then they could change for as something as random as 'awesome shoes,' or as simple as, 'I'm hungry. Not caring now.'

He then poked logic shaped holes in their suggested reasoning as they had suggested a huge information network, her being a super spy, or using an unknown devil fruit. The information network was true to an extent, but those required a lot of contact and master at regular contact or of the den den mushi she was not. She had an astounding ability to disappear and plan and gain information illegally but super spy she was not. She preferred being more blunt. As for the devil fruit option that was a no, as she would sooner sell, toss it overboard, feed it to a pet or give it away to a random stranger than eat it –as she had previously done all of those to just about everyone's shock. Most people could spend all their lives searching and never find a devil fruit. When asked why Ace had only replied that it was simple -she liked swimming far too much to give it up and she could easily keep herself safe without eating one.

The commanders later learned why she enjoyed swimming -much to their horror and disbelief.

Ace's best friend or so he said was the best combination between and intellectual and a doer –and plenty strong or so Marco saw. They knew from Ace and that slave-bust operation and her own personal search and destroy of that one ring, that his best friend was capable of meticulous long term planning with multiple contingencies, back-ups that would accomplish at least ninety percent of her objectives and adhering to them, along with being able to create on the spot plans and tactics for any bumps that could crop up to increase the chances of her success with minimum loss of resources. His best friend was capable of blending and researching and ambushing when needed and had the rare ability to completely distance herself from what she was feeling should the need arise.

She was also brutally honest with enough guile and cunning to keep polite and cool even when she would rather strangle someone. She got on better with animals than with people most days, was something of a genius despite the randomness that they'd all seen in the letters, was really, really dedicated to what she planned to do with her life and was atypically astute of what occurred when and how best to use whatever happened to her advantage. In short, a born assassin and general who happened to have a life-long love affair of learning.

Even when causing trouble, she usually managed to avoid any negative repercussions unless she wanted them. Hell, they couldn't even find a half-decent picture of her and the pair had fought or sparred several times! There were rumors of a sketch that existed of Benihime at one point where a guy got lucky and saw everything, but the nearby marine base that held it presumably went up in flames. That was later blamed on some idiot being careless. When asked why Benihime had no bounty -because she was clearly a pirate at heart- Ace had replied that the marines were able to be bribed, cameras avoided and her mother would kill her for setting a bad example for others younger than her –and she was scary.

Whitebeard's crew also found out that the only reason that Ace believed in any sort of higher power was because she hadn't run across a devil fruit that appealed to her very well hidden pyromania or the less hidden fondness for explosive rounds.

Ace had put it best. If she had wanted to be a pirate, she would be a heavy contender for One Piece. She just didn't care for the title and would rather enjoy all of what the world had to offer –a statement that had sent Whitebeard laughing to the majority of the commander's confusion. She just took enough care to not get caught or to have any pursuers chasing after ghosts like that of Valentine –like it was a giant prank on the world. That statement, Thatch was sure, would have set Ace to laughing if he hadn't been the one who uttered it. A lot of work, but she considered it worth it, so who was he to tell her differently?

Valentine was known as an ever possible and potentially highly bloody nightmare for anyone with a bounty on their heads. There was no apparent rhyme or reason to when, where and who he'd or rather she'd hit or how hard that hit would be. Some crews were wiped out entirely while others only lost a few members or their Captain or just the crew and leave the command chain intact after claiming to be out of ammo or bored.

The only reason pirates weren't hunting Valentine down was because Valentine was soon –by anyone with a brain- considered to be a ghost and untraceable beyond random sightings. Valentine was said to be impossible to track or predict where he'd be at, much less when. It didn't take Marco long or indeed anyone with a brain to realize that even with perfect weather the speeds needed for the normal routes between the places Valentine had appeared at –even without a capture or kill- were impossible.

Those few bloodless sightings however had cemented a reputation as a polite, reserved and hauntingly beautiful guy that just happened to kill a lot of people in unusually bloody ways or so Marco's slightly frantic research had pulled up once Ace had admitted to his best friend being Valentine –all of six months ago. Even being allies with Yonko didn't make pirates safe from Valentine. Kaido and Big Mom had both lost two ships to Valentine. Hell, Big Mom had actually lost an outpost!

Marco eventually asked how Ace's best friend –who was never mentioned as Valentine after that- moved around so fast during one of the commander's meetings. Ace's answer was given in a polite, matter of fact tone shocked several of them silly. "Roc-hawks are huge and fly. They can carry ships off to their nests after all. They have no problem carrying her. But, before the roc-hawks there was Shishi."

Haruta asked the obvious. "Who's Shishi?"

"Shishi is a sea king who just so happens to follow her around like a love struck puppy. So she rides on him quite often anyway."

What shocked Thatch more was how Ace had said it. He said it like it was no big deal to have a sea king as transportation or that riding one was considered to be a wild pirate's dream. It was like he couldn't conceive of her on a ship.

"So how long has she been riding around on Sea Kings?" Jozu asked.

"A few months before she turned sixteen, I think. Three months before I was fifteen would be about right." All the commanders felt strangely emasculated. That age difference between them wasn't all that big apparently.

Ace however was genuinely confused at their line of questioning. "I don't see why you all are making such a big deal out of it. It's not all that difficult once you figure out how to and are able to communicate with them."

"How do you or would you communicate with them in order to ride them?" Vista asked recovering from his shock.

"It's not all that different from wrangling other sea beasts, although the danger involved is higher and the process is rather prolonged. First you have to be able to hear what they're saying, and that requires them to be above water and a refined sense of haki –more refined if you're underwater. It's kind of difficult to get them above water unless they're hungry and trying to eat you and your ship. Sea kings are savage, vicious, and territorial but not unintelligent." That last bit sounded like a direct quote.

"So, that leaves getting close enough the hard way which is swimming near enough to catch a ride, while avoiding becoming food and drowning. Then you have to get it above water, since human ears aren't meant for understanding sound underwater –unless you're that damn good at understanding them with haki like Yajuu-hime is. After that you have two, no-three options, and one is to either come to an agreement with the Sea King and the second is to forcibly break the sea king in.

"An agreement is easiest but irksome as it involves having a sea king smart enough to understand human speech –and that usually means the older ones who are really huge- or a really fine tune use of haki to understand and translate.

"Next is breaking in a Sea King, which could mean hours underwater, dealing with deep water currents going everywhere, water pressure and a sea king doing everything it can to get you off –including but not limited to scrapping scales on underwater cliffs, swimming close to active underwater volcanoes and picking fights with other Sea Kings.

"The last is only if a person can use Haoshoku haki, but that's not as fun and makes it too easy and usually makes them act far too tame–if it works and they don't try to kill you after."

"That's only kind of difficult?" Jozu asked once he had regained the ability to speak again.

"Her danger scale is off, we'll both admit that. Hell, she'll be the first one. I just think that, that kind of thing is understandable when you kill a sea king at ten."

The commanders felt some degree of shock again but that did explain the scars.

"Did you think that the nicknames I used were just randomly chosen?" Ace's angry question was snapped off with some large amount of heat that was quickly put out by his narcolepsy. Pops wasn't helping as he was laughing it up and completely unconcerned.

Once Ace was conscious again he was further questioned as he was known to be from East Blue. East Blue was considered the weakest sea, so someone that monstrous and even Ace were considered anomalies. Sea kings were also kind of rare there.

"Eh, well, there are five islands in East Blue that would be right at home in the Grand Line and we grew up on one of them. Going and visiting the other four is an interesting way to kill two months. As for sea kings, there were some always around since the Calm Belt was close enough."

"Two months?" Marco parroted.

"We spent those two months exploring the islands, training and me getting us lost at sea multiple times."

"Can't she navigate?" Jozu asked in turn.

"By the stars, which's not that hard so long as you learn the sky, which is the hard part. The stars don't go crazy like a compass does in the Grand Line."

"Are you sure that was all you did with her during those months?" Thatch asked, teasing his fellow brother about his love-life.

"She is my best friend, not my girlfriend." Ace replied, very much annoyed over that topic.

"Marco said that you two looked mighty friendly and you were at one time." Another commander interrupted.

"It's not like that! She's like my cousin or something to me, damn it!"

* * *

Thatch replayed that last bit of conversation of conversation in his head as he opened the door to Ace's room and was treated to a unique view. All the commanders got their own cabin and on a huge ship like the Moby Dick that was built to accommodate Pop's size, it wasn't like they were cramped at all, so all rooms soon got customized.

"That would be kissing cousins you were talking about wouldn't it, huh?" Thatch asked the youngest commander who was awake and pinned next to the bed by having an arm captured by what Thatch would admit was a very attractive red head from what he could see. Ace was otherwise ready and dressed for the day –but he probably fell asleep in those once he went to bed.

"Don't say a word. She kicked me out and stole my bed. Now, she wants to cuddle." Ace gritted out from behind clinched teeth as he took a spare pillow from under his bed and in a well-practiced maneuver replaced his arm with it.

"Should I wake her up the just to see her reaction?"

The flame logia then stalked up to the older commander, "Don't go and try to wake her up any time before noon." Ace frowned in thought -a gesture that Thatch knew meant that Ace going to revise his plans or what he just said. "Actually, don't try and wake her up at all. It won't end well and we'd end up having to repair walls."

"Repair walls?"

"It wouldn't be the first or last time she's tossed someone through them while asleep –or done worse."

"What could be worse than tossing people through walls?" Thatch asked as he went through Ace's door and was answered with three throwing knives tossed towards him that were easily caught by the fourth division commander. He knew his knives and more importantly at the moment –how to catch them.

"You know," he remarked as he handed them back to Ace to do as he liked with them, "most people with throwing knives aim at the chest instead of the throat, eye and liver."

"She's still solidly asleep, just so you know."

"Reflexes then? Must be fun." Thatch grinned waggling his eyebrows.

Ace's stomach growled.

"Breakfast still available?"

Thatch nodded.

"Good."

Ace tossed the knives in her direction in what was clearly a much practiced move as she caught the blades by just closing her fingers together. Then she cuddled the pillow Ace had exchanged for his arm with more. The whole movement did have the benefit of exposing her shoulders more as most of her hair was loosely pulled back. While the arm was decorated with silvery scars of varying lengths and widths, the exposed part of her back and shoulders weren't.

"She sleep naked then or did you burn up your clothing?"

"Thatch there's something called strapless tops. They're rather awesome when a woman can pull them off."

Thatch mentally agreed.

"So when will she be up?" He asked.

"Sometime after lunch, I suppose."

"She'll meet Pops then?"

"She already has, but she'll do it again." Ace said with a little smirk on his face. "I told her to bring alcohol and she's kind of protective of it, so any that we didn't pick up when resupplying is hers and should not be touched without her permission. That's not a pretty fate to face." Ace shuddered.

Thatch had to wonder about what would happen if that happened. Anything that made Ace shudder like that was bound to be scary considering how fearless he normally was.

"So why is she such an alcoholic when you're not? You guys are from the same place after all."

"I think I can blame old lady Shizume for that actually. Her mom owning the bar and doing a little shine on the side like a number of others doesn't help, so the private stock is really potent. That's your first warning about it, but not gonna be your last."

"It can't be that strong, can it?"

"Depending on how much and what she brought? I don't know, but I do know that she's sharing later." Ace grinned. "The private stock is not typically sold or given away as some of it is potent enough to make Shanks pass out after a few shared bottles."

"How do you know that?"

"Shanks made the area his base for a year when he was killing time in East Blue years back and convinced her mom to part with some of it. Several equally shared bottles later and that was the first and only time I've heard of anyone drinking him under the table."

"Her mom drank Shanks under?" That was rather unbelievable. The man's alcohol tolerance was near legendary for a reason.

"Her mom also doesn't drink regularly –which is one of the scary parts of possibly the scariest woman in the world."

"Scariest woman in the world? She can't be that bad." Thatch scoffed.

"She is. She's the only person that I know of that can make Kijo listen or behave without three good reasons, two death threats and a decent bribe. Beyond that she actually was able to get Shanks to roll up his sleeves and do dishes so that he could make himself useful if he was going to hang around the bar so much being a lay-about. You've seen the guy haven't you? He's only kind of famous. Why do you think I'm so polite? It's long ingrained self-preservation."

"She can't be that bad and neither can the alcohol."

"Your friend's parents are supposed to be scary, or so I've heard. Now, I'm just saying this so that you don't get to say I didn't warn you."

Thatch, would later say that yes, he was warned and that the warning was given in good faith. It didn't spare him his hangover or his humiliation though. He did manage to make it out better than some of the other commanders though. Marco was traumatized.

* * *

A/N; Thatch is fun to write. I think I did his character justice. He strikes me as the wise uncle type, who can also be really, really cool. Sorry for confusing chapter bits but Thatch just doesn't strike me as a guy who would lend himself to a more easily coherent chapter.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: This story is getting to be longer than I had thought possible in the mental notebook I keep that eventually became digital. I blame myself for having short chapters –or they were originally.

Ace is 20. Aki/Valentine is 20. Sabo is 19. Luffy is 16 for a few more months.

**1/26/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 13: An Interesting Evening

It was around three in the afternoon when Jozu became aware of a commotion on deck from below. How could he not have? He could hear the nurses scolding Pops, cheerful and loud laughter, and Stefan barking in happiness. Pop's dog was obviously happy as well so it wasn't like there was a fight going on or something. So when Jozu came up, he was obviously surprised.

The red head that had previously been sleeping in Ace's bed was awake.

Thatch had teased Ace about this over the youngest commander's breakfast about it so naturally the whole ship knew she was there and visiting -or at least those on board. That number had steadily been increasing as the majority of the Whitebeard pirates were on shore leave, but a number had trickled back to the ship for varying reasons. Which to the third division commander meant that there was a large sea king nearby that was hers as a roc-hawk would have gained more notice.

He ignored that however. The nurses had already had to deal with several brave fools that congratulated Ace over his 'conquest.' Again. Thankfully it was no worse than a few black eyes and busted noses. A few idiots tried to peek it, but after the first was pinned to the wall outside of Ace's cabin with throwing knives no one dared. None of the knives did any damage to his nakama but with how close they were to certain areas of the human body, it was decided it was best to leave her sleeping. No guy wanted a knife in that place or in their throat.

Jozu looked her over.

She was dressed and celebrating with the rest of the crew. She was wearing dark brown cargo pants, black boots that he knew were the variety typically referred to as 'shit-kickers' or steel toed and they had small heels on them. There was no actual shirt she was wearing. Instead it was a pale lavender corset that was laced tight and had stiff black lace slated at an angle towards her shoulders on the front anyway.

On her head was a dark purple bandana decorated with black stars and dark colored goggles with yellow tinted lenses. The bandana matched the color of her sash that wound around her waist. Over her shoulders was a black cape that looked like one of those that Akagami Shanks favored but under that was a short red jacket with sleeves long enough to cover her hands.

She was slender and the corset top emphasized her modest bust -he had seen larger- and contrasted nicely to show off pale perfect stretches of skin as the soft afternoon light made it hard to see any scars –not that they were available for seeing as her arms were in the dark red jacket. The loose red hair flew magnificently in the breeze. She was strong, and she was attractive and lovely -for a brat that was young enough to be his daughter.

However what she was dressed in was not enough given the fact that the Whitebeard Pirates were currently docked at a _Winter_ island when it wasn't even February! Even he made sure to bundle up before heading up on deck!

Seeing as it wasn't his place to scold her and how there was alcohol and food on deck, Jozu joined the party.

* * *

She was sitting right next to Ace so she'd be rather warm anyway without the extra layers. Ace naturally radiated heat –which made him a favorite and handy person to be around if you couldn't stand the cold. People had a tendency to migrate towards him for warmth if nothing else.

If being a lone bounty hunter on a Yonko's ship put her ill at ease, it didn't show. She had brought up her alcohol and was sitting watch over it –somehow she had managed to convert Stefan over as a watchdog for belly scratching for when she had to wander off, mingle and chat with the crew while the various musicians started up.

Next thing that Jozu knew, Ace's best friend –he had seen them complete each other's sentences and the few silent conversations and inside jokes so the title fit- had poured Thatch some alcohol while warning him that is was strong and not to drink too much at once or it would burn –quite literally.

The last was said with a grin that promised mischief. That wasn't a good sign. Thatch took a small taste and then drank it down in a long steady after that small taste test. He drank the entire mug he had of it in one smooth and continuous pull.

Ace quickly paled. This was either good or bad.

"That was your Dragon's Breath?" The fire logia turned to ask the redhead.

"Yup. He'll be feeling that soon." The grin wasn't helping.

"Why is it named that?" Thatch asked.

Jozu had stuck to his own preferred brand while Ace had helped himself to his friend's stash –quite liberally after she had pointed out which barrels were his.

"The fire." Ace replied with a knowing grin that suggested nothing but mischief. "At least it isn't your Fire Whiskey."

"True, however that only happens if you're a moron who drinks it down like water to prove you're an incurable idiot with a terminal case of stupidity because you ignored any and all warnings associated with it and by the person who brewed and tested it in the first damn place."

"Poor Idiot." They both intoned while raising a glass and drinking it down in sync before they both burst out laughing.

Thatch had obviously found the conversation enlightening but infinitely less amusing once he found out why the liquor was called Dragon's Breath.

Alcohol was supposed to burn going down, but that had a delayed burn. A cough later had Thatch hacking up small fireballs and with everyone else's amusement as he continued hacking up miniature fireballs and smoke for several minutes.

"Now, that's just sad." Ace commented.

"Your opinion is noted and seconded but not everyone is made of fire." She intoned. "Obviously, Thatch here is a lightweight." She declared as she poured herself a glass of Dragon's Breath -using Thatch's own mug- and demonstrated the proper drinking technique for it along with how to properly breathe fire straight up and away from the crew before blowing a few smoke rings at Thatch for good measure. Thatch waved those away.

"What the hell was in that?" Thatch demanded.

"A special spice. The only damn reason I return to that damn place. They just don't grow properly elsewhere –and I'm still not sure if I'm pissed for that or thankful for it. I lean towards thankful most days as otherwise the rest of the place would sprout up too…"

"Ryoko's native island?" Ace asked.

"Yup. Nightmare inducing." She shuddered. "Still doesn't change the fact that I've visited that island on a yearly basis for the past four years."

"The place that if you had a choice between that island and Impel Down, you'd take Impel Down?"

"There's a couple of other places that between those two on my list of places that I'm unwilling to go, but that island tops the list."

"Impel Down is a pirate's nightmare for a reason lady." Another pirate cut in. Jozu noted that it was Thrum from the eleventh. And he was drunk. Thrum was the special sort of drunk that didn't show any physical signs of slamming back too many drinks. He just lost all sense. As Thatch had claimed, Thrum didn't have a drinking problem -he just needed to work on his drunken behavior.

"Oh? You don't think I don't know what happens when to a bounty when I turn them in alive? Especially when I work to keep them alive in order to do so?" She gave a dark chuckle that raised hackles with ease.

"I pick and choose exactly what happens once I'm on the hunt. I learn _all about_ whoever I hunt down. Till I know them as well as a person can know another without spending years doing so. Sometimes I'll let them go, and they'll never know and be on their merry way. Sometimes, sometimes I'll kill them. The term 'mercy kill' exists for a reason, but it's not usually applied to victims of my profession. And sometimes and more often than I'd like, should I be so disgusted with their mere existence, I'll turn them in alive. It's not at all nice of me, but I've never claimed to be nice."

"Vicious, more like." Ace commented.

"Shush. Vicious is a nice enough person after a couple of bottles of Grey Goose because otherwise he's a highly competent asshole and that's a compliment. Unless you're talking about Spike's Vicious who is a prick that I'm glad is dead."

"Story?"

"Not mine to tell."

"Damn. Who names their kid Vicious anyway?" Ace asked.

"How the hell should I know? Wasn't there. He's got a sister named Payne, and brothers named charming names like Zadist and Therror."

"So it's a family thing then?" Ace asked.

"I'm pretty sure it is." Benihime confirmed.

"Odd." Ace proclaimed.

"So what makes that island worse than Impel Down and have we heard of it? 'Cause you know what goes on in that place don't you?"

"I know what goes on in Impel Down. Probably better than you. Impel Down is a prison designed to torture all of its prisoners. The torments that await in there are horrific but in the end it's designed to make people suffer until they can't anymore. Then they die. Crimson Hell called for all the blood spilled there. Beast Hell for all those contained on that level are considered such, both those within and those out of the cells. Starvation Hell is where deprivation and desperation rule as its name explains the torture there. Blazing Hell is where blood boils life away. Freezing Hell is called such for that is a torment to the soul, mind and body. There are rumors of other horrific acts in other areas of the fortress such as the medical wing for human experimentation, solitary cells hidden in the depths for the most dangerous and such. I do know what goes on in there and I turn that bounty in alive knowing all that. In the end, for all the dangers inside and out, Impel Down is nothing but a monument to human cruelty, built by human hands to achieve very human goals –to establish fear in the population, to keep all captured criminals in, make them suffer, to keep all free criminals out. To be a last ditch fortress in the event should other military establishments fail. I consider that island to be worse."

An ironic smile graced her lips as she took another sip. Jozu had to hand it to her. She had an audience.

"That island on the other hand… well, layer deathtrap is the nicest thing I can say about it. It's difficult to even get close enough to set foot on it -even for the New World. Nasty currents, hidden reefs, rocks and shallows. Filled with killer plants of all sorts who while individually are dangerous but easily handled are less so when they work together and who's just about every part is dangerous to some degree. Trees, grass, lichens, fruit, flowers, moss, vines, roots, bark, shrubs and leaves. The fungi and moving plants are equal parts disturbing and dangerous. Black Willow gets really annoying because the stronger you are, the easier it finds you. Ambush predator that one.

"Then dangerous but harmless-seeming animals, and the insects there can do some nasty tricks. A number of places where the dead don't stay in the ground but will get up with the intent to kill who are also remarkably well-preserved for at least a few centuries.

"That island... it's a place where everything else tries to kill, poison, eat you or some combination of the three. Even the air isn't always safe and some of the water sources are anything but safe for anything no matter how clean or clear it is. It's all Natural too. Unless you're a native or with one, people don't survive long enough to shape the environment in any particular way. The natives know better and the island kills those who try. People can be out-smarted or beat. Forces of nature really can't be beat and nature, nature is rather uncaring about the individual or group of individuals no matter what happens. That island just wants everyone who intrudes dead –and then they can be used to kill the next intrudes. So while Impel Down would doubtlessly be a hellhole of suffering –I'd at least be alive and around people who can be beaten or outsmarted."

"You're being depressing."

"He asked. Besides, I now know why Ryoko is more likely to veggies than meat. Not only to avoid the accumulation of toxins that don't break down when consumed but because she hates plants. Still doesn't explain the rest of her though. Being from Grijnzen only explains so much but that's the native's name…"

"Just realized you don't know what everyone else calls it?" Ace asked.

"Eh, it's kind of embarrassing to admit it, but yeah. It's been Grijnzen for as long as I've known of it. I don't think it has a common name actually. Heard several for it, but ask another that knows of it and you get a different name. It's the Grand Line. Can't really give directions to it. It's part of the disputed territory between Kaido and Big Mom though. I think they both gave up on obtaining that island. It's difficult enough to get on that island without running into the creature they call Sin. Cutting off the head doesn't kill it, nor does slicing it like shashimi. That's fucked up. Like Ryoko being able to run in those heels of hers."

"Those heels of hers are nice though."

"You think that because you're a guy and have never worn heels that high. There's a trick for balancing in heels but so far I still have no idea how she can run, much less fight in them that high."

"Isn't that hard though? A number of the nurses complain about theirs if they've been busy hounding us."

"I can't even wear heels as high as hers. I trip. Heels mess with your balance and it's like learning how to walk and fight all over again."

"I'm tempted to ask the nurses if I can borrow a pair of theirs and then…"

"My best friend is such a devoted leg man. No. I'm not wearing them, then or now."

"But didn't you lose a bet that required-"

"And that outfit has since been left in the depths of my closet. Speaking of-"

"No. I'm keeping those. Mine."

"Damn. Not even for-"

"No."

"Jerk."

Jozu got the feeling that although they had broken up, they were still tangled up in an emotional tangle.

Ace chuckled. "As someone who has a skewed view of the world, your opinion is irrelevant, since you're a brewer's rat at heart."

"And you're a braying jackass. It's obvious who got the better deal." Her face declared her challenge.

Jozu was getting the idea that they weren't normal friends at all if they ever had been–this was more akin to friendly rivalry that although vicious wasn't without his benefits. It made him glad that he wasn't nosy enough to actually investigate how complicated the relationship between those two were.

"If you mean not being a self-serving and plague-bearing pest, then I'm better off." Ace answered back recklessly.

What followed was one of most ridiculous drinking games the Whitebeard crew had ever seen. They did however take notes of the game, and of the insults used. Excerpts were noted for hilarity.

* * *

"Because being an angst-muffin is so much better –muffins are snack food."

"Muffins are for breakfast –the most important meal of the day."

"Breakfast isn't the largest meal of the day however." She said with a straight face. It took a few moments for the innuendo to sink in. Ace and the red head –Jozu thought her actual name was Aki- both looked at each other and laughed along with the rest of the crew. "My point." She drained her glass, and poured a refill from her private stock out of the barrel behind her.

"Just like the booze hound you are."

"So if I'm a hound and I'm female that makes me a bitch. Does that make you my chew toy?" They both laughed again, but she drained another glass.

"Shouldn't have left myself open for that."

"Agreed Chew toy, agreed."

Jozu noted that Ace didn't care about that comment as he didn't respond, but it was likely that was too drunk. Really, they had emptied two barrels by this point and they weren't the small kegs either.

* * *

The game continued, and the pair used anything possible as an insult. It was obvious that there were rules and some were fairly complicated. Some were obvious such as with every point won led to a downing of a glass of some potent alcohol –on top of what they had already indulged in- since they were both flushed after ten points were reached for each.

A penalty was using the same insult twice and they would have to pay a penalty of a downing a glass. A subtle but unspoken rule was that parentage was never brought up –Whitebeard did consider all of his crew to be his children and neither brought up the amount or possible lack of sexual experience the other had. Ace had messed around some that they knew of –nothing really stayed secret unless it wasn't witnessed and the Whitebeard pirates were welcomed at all of their territories and information often flowed freely from the inhabitant's lips.

Jozu as a more sober member quickly found the innuendos were hilarious with some more subtle and others quite obvious but it was apparent that any moment of speechlessness or lose of composer led to the other winning the round.

What made it more difficult to follow was the fact that insults could be disproven such as reckless ape-man or crazy cat lady. If the insult could be disproven then the insulter had to drain his or her glass. Ace had countered that he used manners and could be counted as at the very least a civilized monkey which garnered several laughs. She had countered that she had too much money and a few too many pets to be called a crazy cat lady and should instead be called eccentric beast lady. Besides, it's not like anyone actually owns a cat anyway. Jozu had to agree as he had met a few feline overlords.

The game while entertaining was unfortunately interrupted by someone who actually called her out on the obvious resemblance between her and Shanks. Something which Jozu hadn't felt like commenting on and neither had the rest of the commanders.

It took her a few seconds for what the random crew-mate had said for her intoxicated mind to process it. "Oh, that. My parents were young, stupid brats when I was conceived, and mum's said it often. My own da' wasn't around after." Was what was said with the slightest bit of slur and a large grin –that was exactly like Shanks as she waved off any and all concerns and comments. "Since he's not here, and he's like my, my da'."

She leaned into Ace and they both let out drunken giggles. Jozu noted that she never said that they were related, much less father and daughter as they clearly were. There were also a number of implications behind what she said.

"That's a re-e-ason why ya' gonna die a spinster." Ace said between giggles. "Yonko fer a gerdamn reason." Ace shivered and given his devil fruit powers –Shanks had obviously scared him good in the time honored tradition of over-protective male relations everywhere which had set Pops to laughing again.

"He likes you, ya lug. Be dead otherwise."

"I feel lucky." Ace then slurred something that wasn't comprehensible without being drunk more but so it was obviously an inside joke for the drunken duo as they fell backwards laughing and stupid drunk.

"Join the crew!" Someone eventually asked and Pops had nodded that he agreed with that.

Jozu could see his reasoning. She certainly shouldn't be traveling around in the New World all alone like that –sea king wrangler or no. She wasn't at Mihawk's or Shanks' level yet although it could be assumed that she was as strong if not slightly stronger than Ace. She could still be outnumbered or ambushed and she didn't seem the type to cut and run. Retreat if need be, hide if she had to, but she'd be back.

The redhead blinked, and straightened her posture and showed that she wasn't as nearly as effected by the vast quantities of alcohol she had consumed as she had seemed, although that big grin didn't seem all that sane.

"Strongest man in the world you might be but there are some things that are stronger than reason or your whims! My dedication to my little sister is one of them!"

"Reason two you're going to be an old maid for life." Ace commented, also shrugging off the amount of alcohol he had also consumed with ease.

Jozu would later reflect that he had obviously missed some rules about that drinking game. Deception was allowed.

"We'd be happy to have another strong member on board." Jozu heard a member of the crew say. Williams of the 14th division.

"Mom broke my hand. In four places. My dominant hand." She was obviously talking about labor pains and that was apparent to any halfway sober crew member, although it took Jozu a minute to figure that out. He decided to cut back on how much he was drinking for the night then and there.

"She can't be that much younger than you, after all." Another crew member said.

Jozu had the inclination to bet that the little red head's sister was younger than her by a whole lot.

"I don't remember that, even though I know it happened and I was there. I remember getting a black eye and a bloody nose that day, but I don't recall getting the concussion or anything after that." Ace replied.

"We do need more women aboard." That was Vayne from the 16th. He had a pretty face but was a noted womanizer.

"That was hour three. I don't think ya' do remember the next three days either or else you'd know about the pictures that we have of you in drag. We called you Ann."

"Surely it's not that much of an age difference." Vista said, joining the other members in trying to coerce her to join.

"She was born after I nabbed my first bounty!" She chirped in response.

That did solve why she had done just about everything to keep herself from getting a bounty on her own head. Bad example indeed. Kid had to be young still since she had been working as a bounty hunter for only a few years. What, five at max? That was at least a fifteen year age difference if not more.

"?" Some of the crew chorused as they chocked in shock.

Given that large of an age difference explained more about her than he thought. Her mother had to have had her younger than Jozu first thought, maybe got in over her head as a brat younger than she currently was. Parents were examples of what not to do as much as they were as guides to what you should be doing. Thoughts ran through his head and he came to a conclusion –he was going to have to find a way to talk to Ace about how their relationship ended. For his own good –now if only it would be easier to find or get Ace in a mood to talk about it. Maybe he could talk her into it instead.

"Drag?" Ace asked with more than a touch of panic in voice.

"You made an adorable girl. Fits, cause you a momma's boy."

"Daddy's little angel."

"Don't have the wings."

"Don't have that reputation either." She pointed out. "Did you concuss yourself when I wasn't looking? That lacked your usual wit."

Jozu took this moment to remember that he was dealing with a sneaky, conniving and strong woman.

A woman who didn't want the spotlight that having a price on her head would provide.

"We both know that you're a conniving sham-artist who's capable of fooling the world and Marines everywhere."

"That was a fun week. Those idiots didn't find out that I wasn't that marine Captain for five whole days!"

Jozu could now see the resemblance between the two in the craziness they got up to. No wonder Ace claimed her as an older relative –although she couldn't be that much older than him. He really didn't want to know how the young commander saw her.

"You meeting her was the highlight of the week! You had her arrested and everything!"

"Keeping a straight face was the hard part! Unlike the hyena you were!"

They both raised their glasses again and drank deeply.

* * *

Jozu would later find that getting anymore answers out of the duo would prove impossible as the drinking game was back on and in full swing. A few more sober crew members still took notes on the insults they bandied about. They certainly were inventive.

She did however give one of her barrels of alcohol over to Whitebeard personally telling him that it was his consolation prize and that 'Edge of the Abyss' had earned its name as it only took three of those small barrels to knock out a giant. Jozu didn't believe that until he saw Marco become wasted off of less than two glasses from the barrel of it. Jozu wouldn't envy Pops or Marco their hangovers. Thatch's relayed information about the potency of the alcohol had surprisingly proved better than its hype.

Once the sun was starting its fall into the ocean did a heavily buzzed Vista challenge her to a sword fight. Jozu had yet to see the man be more outclassed in sheer speed. Jozu wasn't a swordsman, but he wasn't a rookie either.

The red head truly only moved less than a few paces in either direction during the brief bout. Mostly she moved in how she shifted her weight and with a bit of footwork to dodge expertly swung blades. What wasn't dodge was deflected. A defensive style? How odd. The spar continued at high speed, while keeping to the cleared area of the deck. Vista managed a deadlock on her single blade making it a contest of strength. A shift of her body weight and stance, a flex of feet and the deck cracked around them while giving them each enough reason to separate for now. A grin spread widely on her face as the clash continued –in serious play now.

Jozu decided a good half hour later that Benihime was really that damn good with that heavy ass blade of hers –drunk as she had to be. He blinked. She slipped with ease under Vista's attack before sitting on his shoulder, sword under his throat with her prepared to slide over his back. A move that could easily decapitate him if done with enough force, or even had he used enough haki to not lose his head wouldn't change the face that she'd be at his back. Her sword went back to her sheath and she looked at Vista's hair seriously within the dying light.

"Your hair is really pretty. What do you use on it?"

"Um…" Vista began.

"Cause it's obvious that you take good care of it. Better than me of mine at least. If you don't tell me, I'm going to track down several ribbons and braid them into your hair." It was a ridiculous threat, but Vista was shifting nervously.

"Ask Izo." Jozu intoned.

"Thanks Jozu!" A red blur almost tackled Izo overboard. She was more than a little odd wasn't she?

* * *

Eventually Ace and his best friend resumed their drinking game. Thirteen points more in the drinking game, and after the bout with Vista did Ace ask the red head in a remarkably understandable voice considering how much they had drunk, "Drunk yet?"

"Not really. Isn't alcohol supposed to dull reactions and lower inhibitions and all that?"

"Yup."

"So why isn't it working? I should be stupid drunk by now."

"Because you're Kijo."

"You have to be the best worst friend ever."

"I remember saying something like that before to you."

"That was the day after I stole your shorts. That's five years ago now?"

"Thereabouts. Now who's being a maudlin basket-case now?" Ace answered back as confident and as fearless as always.

"That's not the only time we've called each other the best worst friend ever. There was the cliff climbing contest and the time we blew up that cave. So who's being a senile monkey now?"

"Garp." Ace replied with his usual amount of concern about the vice-admiral. That is to say none. It sent the both of them laughing though.

Jozu however had seen that mad glint in their eyes.

Jozu, now concerned for his sanity because the duo was bound to and would unleash unholy havoc retreated to his quarters for the night and secured his door. He planned to be sober for the morning's events.

This turned out to be a wise decision as he managed to miss the drunken dancing, the drunken singing and avoid the early morning pranks –for the most part. Marco sure could scream. He however didn't have the joy of dealing with the hangover with it. He just had to clean up his formerly cleaned and locked room. It looked like someone had covered everything in glitter and glass jewels. He felt an eyebrow twitch.

"PORTGAS D. ACE!"

* * *

A/N: I see Jozu as the Benn Beckman of the Whitebeard crew. Fairly imposing but generally a level headed and relaxed dude. He's also fairly intelligent and a well-seasoned pirate. More characterization and what not. However, he doesn't have all the relevant information to know exactly what's going on. Hence why he's wrong on his assumptions.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Still almost cannon, but not quite. After-party time.

Ace is 20. Aki/Benihime/Valentine is 20. Sabo is 19. Luffy is 16 for a few more months.

**1/26/2013 Edit  
**

* * *

Chapter 14: An Interesting Hangover Experience

Marco was intimately familiar with the assertive nature of a hangover. He was also absurdly grateful for the regenerative capabilities granted by his mythical zoan devil fruit. Even with his tendency to worry he knew how to relax and have fun.

He was not a mother hen –no matter what the rest of the commanders like to insinuate on a regular basis. He just knew that their Captain had a limited amount of time left. He was resolved to be prepared for what would happen after as everyone would test them now that their father had left this world. He was also resolved to enjoy all the time they still had left together in true pirate fashion.

What Marco was not familiar with was the fact that he didn't remember a damn thing a few minutes after he had drunk what he guessed was a glass of what Ace's best friend and apparent brew master in the making –why had that _never_ come up?- had named 'Edge of the Abyss.' The name was ominous enough but it had a dark and seductive appeal and was as smooth as the Calm Belt going down. It was also a tantalizing brew that begged you to drink more and drink yourself out with hints of other flavors popping up like much valued riches or tantalizing glimpses of skin but never showing exactly what it was. The brew didn't give the harsh burn of alcohol going down being so smooth, but that didn't mean it wasn't there in his veins as shortly after that first glass he remembered going for a second –but nothing after that.

Marco was also not familiar with waking up to or with another person sharing his admittedly large bed. He was just in his shirt and and sandals. He felt the other person up while he was slowly fixing his hangover. Curves were a good sign. He preferred ladies after all but it wouldn't the first time he had ever woke with a guy in bed -usually they at least still had their clothing on. The bed was a perk of being commander. It was large and comfy, although on the Moby Dick, many things were oversized so that its taller members didn't have stoop.

"Who?" He asked as he abused his devil fruit powers to fix his hangover.

"Aki." The name didn't register. Who was she anyway? "We're in your room, on the Moby Dick. You're obviously tired and perhaps a little sore as a result of the activities we participated in last night. You were pretty good before I took the lead, by the way. Not that I have much to compare it to. A few past conquests, I believe the term is. That's it. I don't think various romantic novels count."

"Huh?"

"I'm blaming this on your hangover."

The red head then waited while the 1st division commander's hung over mind comprehended her statement. Marco opened his eyes.

"WHAT!"

"Do I really need to repeat what I said?" She asked, with a face full of concern before a blush started rising. "That would be rather embarrassing. At least I found my panties. That saves you from any awkward explanations once they were found…" She calmly continued saying although that blush was creeping up higher and brighter.

She's acting all cute and embarrassed… Marco noted. It was adorable.

"I hope you don't mind that I borrowed a shirt of yours. Mine's serviceable, but the lace was ripped and wearing it without fixing it is just tacky…"

She looked damn good in his shirt buttoned up as it never was when he wore it. Her legs were clearly her best feature, but her eyes were a nice shade of violet before he noted that they were less of purple and more of a mix of ice blue and rust and all that long and smooth and soft crimson red hair…

Red hair. Akagami Shanks. Relatives. Damn.

Marco's scream made an interesting wake-up call for the rest of the ship. His scream was silenced with a kiss that the mythical zoan enjoyed until it ended.

"Thanks for the night." She replied with a wink as she sauntered off.

Marco with his hangover completely forgotten pulled his blanket over his head.

"Shanks is going to kill me. Akagami Shanks is going to kill me for touching the girl he calls his daughter. I'm so dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, DEAD!"

* * *

While Marco was freaking out, the red head had walked out of his room. The second division commander was outside of Marco's room with her pants and boots. The pants she slipped on quickly. They made it up to the top deck before laughing themselves silly.

"I give you a nine out of ten. The panties line was inspired. Far too much time with Ryoko?" Ace asked.

"Far too much time with Ryoko." She confirmed. "Even drunk Marco can dance. I didn't believe that. He's really good at it. I wonder where he learned it. He has had at least some classical training in how."

"The dancing only started after your little duel with Vista and you had pounced on Izo who dragged you over to Haruta and some of the nurses got involved with that discussion over Vista's hair. You dragged me out on the floor remember?"

"Yeah. Vista was a good sport about all that too. Who else do you think remembers that far into the night?" Aki asked as she slipped on her socks and then her boots.

"Very, very few people and Pops' nurses will remember the night clearly. Some of them did cut out and go to sleep early like Jozu. They won't tell though. They'll be laughing at all the rest of us."

"Marco is also pretty good with the other sort of tango..."

"I didn't want to know that." Ace replied evenly. "You usually don't go for blondes."

"I make exceptions for blondes. You know exactly who I prefer."

"Yeah. That I do."

* * *

That was only the start of the morning's pranks and the various reactions to them. Jozu when he was later supervising the two cleaning his room from the glitter that had spontaneously appeared on ship some rediscovered and remembered that they openly called the other as their best friend and as their best worst friend ever –interchangeably. He would then understand why. They brought out the best and the worst in each other.

The rest of the ship wasn't all too impressed with the morning's prank on Marco or the rest of the crew as a large number of them had hangovers –which included Whitebeard. He did have a whole barrel of 'Edge of the Abyss' for himself and Marco who had a high tolerance for alcohol couldn't remember a damn thing after a drink and a half.

Anyone who thought to ask about the potency of the barrels that she and Ace were drinking out of would be dumbfounded to realize that while a only a third of Abyss' potency –they had drank a lot more of it and avoided all the stupid usually involved with large amounts of alcohol. They were quite sober at the moment. Between Ace's ability to boil the alcohol straight out of his body, Aki's inherited massive tolerance and magic working to purge her body of it –they actually had to work to get drunk.

Thankfully, only Thatch did learn about the potency and that was before he joined the duo in the prank spree. Untold amounts of horrible and embarrassing pranks were pulled on the majority of the crew. One poor sod was blindfolded and gagged as he was tied to the doorway over the gallery. In elaborate handwriting via maker in a patch of recently shaved skin, 'Lost a bet. Spank me as you go by.'

Thatch then understood why Ace said that learning manners was self-preservation. He remembered that guy getting a bit too close to her while drunk during the dancing.

* * *

Of course the duo paid for the morning pranking spree. They had to repair and scrub the deck for that. The Moby Dick was a rather huge ship so the task took a while, but damn did they work fast.

Aki was very much happy that she had been something of a damn good judge of wizarding alcohol in her past life. She knew how to get more alcohol than was normally feasible into a drink as magic often made it hard for muggle alcohol to affect a witch or wizard. Even butter beer had more alcohol in it than a normal beer. Fire-whiskey was considered to be more pleasant tasting and more potent than Everclear with the sometimes side-effect of setting clothes on fire.

Tweaking the recipe for Fire-whiskey (specifically Abeforth's recipe and not Ogen's) had led to the creation of Dragon's Breath and Edge of the Abyss. Getting them to taste right was much harder though, and the kinks of Dragon's Breath showed up on occasion such as hacking up embers and small fireballs –but usually only in newbies to the brew. Drinking Abyss on the other hand was something like staring into the abyss. At times there was the sensation of vertigo or falling and at times could make it feel like there was a connection to the abyss as it was staring back at you. Despite the amount of alcohol in it, thanks to magic it was actually far more healthy for you than it seemed.

Whitebeard was as formidable as reputed -she wasn't close to his level or her father's although she was getting there- but man, was the conversation she had with him that was practically private which was a rarity on a ship as Ace had introduced them and then fallen asleep while his other sons were off on island or sleeping. The conversation went well enough, although she'd like nothing more than to whack him a few times –with something comical. Nothing was as surprising as getting beat up by a simple paper fan. They surprisingly hurt –even for someone with her pain tolerance. They were practically Doc's favorite weapons when she was stupid enough to land herself in her ship's infirmary.

She knew she was around the level of his stronger commanders like that of Marco or Vista, so it wasn't like she couldn't have gotten away. It just wouldn't be pleasant. A dive off the ship into the freezing waters to grab Shishi's mane and have him swim fast into the warmer waters away from the island. The only one that would possibly follow would be Namur and the speed fishmen and sea kings swam at was much different –the sea king was far faster. Her brief bout with Vista was her reacting on pure reflex. No thinking. No haki beyond what was necessary. Just pure reflex. She knew she was good and fast, but that good? Then she wondered why she was having this freak out now and not when she had first fought Mihawk (and got her ass handed to her, but it took a while since he was holding back enough to make it last) over two years ago.

She briefly wondered how they all would react if they knew how much she was holding back? She fingered the worn black coat that had a few layers of scales sown into it and hidden by another layer of equally worn black fabric -and heavily weighted with magic that was only in effect once it was worn by her specifically. The worn cloak was practically armor by itself thanks to those scales.

Magic and sea stone worked rather well together –although she had practically abandoned the idea of having a wand by now that she could and would use. Some might say too well. It wasn't some uber magic conductor but it did have properties as decent one but there were a few that were far better but were far more brittle and less versatile, and the rock held properties of the sea of this world.

So having time, a large snake and seastone she worked a bit of magic that was outlawed in her old world. There were a number of magical species created this way –the way of the chimera like the crup and the kneazle. The snake's scales were eventually covered in it. Then she worked to create the animal she desired –one that would 'grow' sea stone scales. They weren't actually sea stone, but the scales had properties close enough to confuse a fair number of people and they were easier to work with. They worked as armor, drained devil fruit users of their power still but at a slower rate and could easily be ground up and mixed into something like nail polish that gave her a hidden edge against any fruit user. The nail polish also prevented nails from breaking but meant that she had to take it off in order to trim her nails and then repaint them.

She looked and polished her blade and sheath while waiting. The sheath was made of a mix of both adam wood and eve wood and polished with resin from Sabaody -which was heavy enough to sink ships with only a thin layer but it kept the blade and the sheath from ever getting wet as long as the blade was properly secured. The blade itself was lighter than expected for what it was made out of, how it was made, but the chain attached to the end is where the majority of its weight came from.

Well, once someone had set it on a scale. A few enchantments worked into the sword with haki and magic working together made the weight of the blade highly variable. The sword weighed less than her, but she had given it magic and memories and _life_ to make the katana come to be truly alive –and rather picky, whimsical and lazy until roused. A lot like her actually. The chain links she had cursed herself so that she wouldn't forget how much she had taken away from those that were once living. The weight of what she had taken would always impress upon her and follow and remind her so that she wouldn't turn into another Voldemort or some of the people she had hunted down in this life. Only humans can kill monsters, but they have to be careful to not turn into what they hunt while doing so.

She was known for using a sword. In her past life, all she had only ever worked with was Gryffindor's sword and a few training blades. She had the damn thing, killed a basilisk with it, and then Dumbledore put it up in his office like a trophy after it had finally been released to the school? She wanted that damn thing. It was a sword –however gaudy- and it was meant to be used as more than a trophy on the wall of some office. As the magical and mundane communities were once far more mixed and magic was not always wise to use, there were a number of portraits and ghosts that had had sword training. All it took was moving a few things around, finding such a portrait and helpful ghosts to teach her. She had no idea how good she actually was at it, but that's what she did from her third year on when she wasn't practicing her patronus and the following years when she didn't have homework or quidditch. The room of requirement once discovered became her favorite training spot as she could have something to practice against. That previous experience explained why a katana had felt so wrong for the longest time.

In this world, she had far less 'formal' sword training and what sword training she did have was scattered through a large number of 'schools.' That's not to say that she didn't train. No, she did that in a large variety of styles. Legimency was a huge boon there. It allowed her to quickly 'master' a sword style. The kata's movement, the style's philosophy and outlook were all quickly absorbed. Some tweaking to account for size and muscle difference and then she was good to go. Then she had practiced the kata of a particular style for hours, upon hours throughout the years until she truly had mastered the style and knew it to her bones. The whole 'mastering' of a sword style would have gone quicker had she only stuck to one. Thanks to occulmency, she knew which movements went to which style and knew how to change sword styles in an instant by slight changes in her stance. It threw so many people off.

Occulmency was such a double-edge sword, but no one ever focused on that. You could repress parts of yourself virtually into nonexistence, enhance focus, gain a razor sharp memory, increase mental fortitude and flexibility –which was why she was so _zen_ all the time beyond her haki-granted awareness being ever present unless she actually focused on turning it off- and all it cost was a lot of effort and self-control.

Enhancing focus was generally considered a good thing, it meant you could pay better attention to things around you –it wasn't something meant outside of academia. Enhancing focus meant paying attention to everything. It had made the headaches from when she was getting used to her haki all the worse actually if she didn't narrow the focus down. Then she felt that she might have invaded the person's privacy as little was secret from such an acute observation. Old injuries, illness, general discomforts that a person was so used to that they didn't register any more, heavy weighing thoughts that were discarded but still present... Most people only got a few instances worth of warning from observation haki. If she was dealing with a person that she had focused on -she could easily get minutes depending on how they thought. Impulse fighters she was stuck with the rest of the world -seconds. Someone who was set in their ways? She had plenty of time.

A razor sharp memory is also good for academia –you remember all you learned after all. However, it could also be so sharp that she could cut herself on it at times. Mental fortitude was well and good to prevent people from reading you or your mind magically, but too much emphasis on it led to some rather unhealthy mental behavior. Snape had loved, _obsessed_ over Lily, yet still hated her for being born to his nemesis. Dumbledore had bought into his own hype. It's not to say that they weren't brilliant and genii, but they were too set in their ways by circumstances or by years. They were both highly competent bastards.

Mental flexibility had always been more of her speed –and Luna's. Snape, Dumbledore and even Hermione were highly methodical and logical for magicals. Logic was rigid. Mental flexibility was using all the information accumulated, learned, in such ways that no one would expect. Hints, implications, words spun around and combined and recombined until a picture was made clear. However, having a high degree of mental flexibility meant being more than a little odd and random.

That's not to say that Occulmency didn't have its benefits outside of academia, but they usually didn't outweigh the costs. With the enhanced focus and memory, you could watch something once and with some practice and a lot of tweaks to account for size, weight and balance differences, one could be able to do the same provided you're physically able to. It was handy for learning other less formal styles for anything. It was an excellent learning tool, at the price of not forgetting any mistakes made, horrors you witnessed or committed.

After using legimency on someone capable of using haki she learned that her own haki was more than slightly different than others. She assumed that it was probably because she had magic. Wizards and witches weren't that different from their non-magical counterparts, but studying with Susan to fix a problem of hers had taught her that the difference was there, if small. She dubbed the talent 'sympathy.' It was different from what she had heard about Ace's biological father being able to hear the voices of all things. Hearing was something you could ignore. Feeling something that wasn't yours was an entirely different game. Rayleigh was no help with this.

No wonder that Ace had said to her while he was pretending to be drunk that they might not have to follow through with that promise on her end after all. She was a head case and Ace deserved better.

She still missed being with him, despite the difference in mental age in what they could remember and experience. She still loved him, but being in love with him just wasn't something she wanted at the moment.

She was a selfish and vicious person. Anyone who said people were civilized wasn't paying attention. She eventually wanted to have her own kids and they were both aware enough that it wasn't his father's blood that she was referring to that would make everything difficult. In part there was her own bloodline to consider –being the eldest daughter of Shanks. If he succeeded at his dream of making his name known to the world, then if any chld born to them accidentally or not -one pregnancy scare was enough- would be hunted because they would be Portgas D. Ace's child or her own. Birth control didn't prevent all accidents or pregnancies –just the vast majority of them. Even magical methods weren't fool-proof. Teenagers they might physically have been, but they were mentally older than that and in her case –far older.

Aki thought back to last night. Eventually after interrogating Izo and other various people on the Moby Dick for what products they used for hair care on ship, as Vista's was hair she'd kill to have, she returned to Ace's side for a while until the musicians started playing some different songs. She then dragged him out to dance since someone had finally started some music that she could dance to. Then, she had woken up Marco, danced a few rounds with a drunken pheonix, and dragged him to his cabin.

* * *

By late afternoon, Whitebeard's crew was fully functional, if a bit slow to respond and quieter than usual. The only exceptions were the nurses, Stefan who was Whitebeard's dog, the few crew members who knew when to stop, and Ace and Aki.

Whitebeard had even managed to drag himself out of his quarters and onto the Moby Dick's deck, although far less appreciative of the reflected sunlight off of the snow and far less tolerable of loud sounds.

Marco was noted for his absence. Two other commanders eventually investigated and found him freaking out -several hours later. The nurses sedated him.

She said her good-bye to Whitebeard, and informed Thatch on her way out that he needed to inform Marco that she felt bad for stealing his shirt this morning and could you please tell him that.

Aki missed seeing Ace's wicked grin behind her and Thatch's matching grin who later nodded at each other. She then dived into the ocean and was minutes later seen on the back of a massive sea king before they both went under again.

* * *

One week later, Thatch found the Yami Yami no Mi while raiding a nearby and unallied pirate ship.

Two weeks after Aki had visited, Thatch was dead and Ace was on a quest for vengeance.

Marco had yet to be informed that the daughter of Shanks remained mostly unsullied by his hands -beyond some mild pawing and drunken tumbling around. She had just gone through all that trouble to steal one of his shirts as Ace was being an ass and not letting her steal his.

Marco spent quite a bit of time in the crow's nest. So much time that a few crew members had painted and hung a sign declaring it as Marco's nest. He was annoyed at the bird jokes and then he went back to normal behavior for the babysitter-in-chief for all of his Old Man's children.

* * *

A/N; Poor Thatch. I liked him. Poor Marco. He's soooo fun to mess with. Mostly because Marco is something of a tsundere. Yes, I'm keeping things from the readers. The next chapter is pure Ace though. Ace!


	15. Chapter 15

A/N; Ace! Finally! We also get to see Luffy. Not entirely that fond of this chapter as it re-hashes cannon a lot. _Anime version_ for this part, anyway. Had to find the subbed anime and that was a pain –then there's the fact that it was run through by Hulu so there were ads upon ads. So many ads! That was a number of minutes of my life I can't get back. It was sort of okay as there was Ace –who was as awesome and as hilarious as I remembered.

**1/30/2013** **Edit**

* * *

Chapter 15: Monster Family

Ace wanted to sigh –but he didn't. It would ruin his manly big brother image. He had to set a good example to his pirating younger brothers even if one of them had become a revolutionary and the other was making waves already as a pirate. Really, a thirty-million bounty from _East Blue_ of all places? That was _impressive_. Hell, his starter bounty was lower than that! Not by much but it still was kind of galling…

Running into Luffy was nice, but it proved a few things true. Luffy was just the same carefree idiot that he remembered. He soon figured that both his and Luffy's luck was also in full force.

Luffy had missed his message that he had left for him in Drum but had managed to show up anyway. That was Luffy's luck working.

Ace then had a Marine Captain tossed into him and then the both of them went flying. To be more accurate, he was the one that went flying through a half dozen walls with the Captain on top of him before at the last wall he went and slid off into the next. He did apologize for interrupting a family's meal on the way back to the restaurant but before he could even say 'hi' to his idiot brother that damn Marine Captain had planted his boot on his head and knocked him to the ground where his narcolepsy which had been really annoying that day reared its ugly little head for a few seconds. He had already gotten food all over his face twice in the past few minutes. Wall rubble wasn't appreciated either. That was his luck working.

Narcolepsy meant random trips into dreamland. It was really just sad that after all the shit he and Kijo had put each other through when they were younger, not much on the Grand Line got to him, could surprise him or throw him off his stride for very long. Compared to what they routinely did to each other, the things that the Grand Line threw at him were not all that threatening or easy enough to deal with. His narcolepsy on the other hand had almost killed him many times more than other things –particularly after he ate his devil fruit.

Another example of his luck was this -really, how fucked up was it that the guy that had gone through the brick walls was the first one to recover and then he got a boot planted on his head by someone that had minutes early been trying to arrest him? He had practically been forgotten about! And for his little brother too!

He then saved his little brother's ass and hat from said Smoky Captain -Smoker had just become Captain in Lougetown a month before so he went through so he was passingly familiar with the man and his subordinates- and then found out that even though his little brother's crew was fine –his little brother was left on shore like the rubber-brained moron he was.

As long as the ship was in sight though, Luffy could probably reach it with his stretchy powers. That was a problem easily fixed. No big brother intervention necessary.

* * *

As they strolled down the streets of Nanohana, he had his little brother describe his crew as he noted several men get into positions fit for an ambush –and what a crappy ambush it was. It even took them several moments to identify Luffy. Thirty million from East Blue was a _big deal_. Idiots. Ace noted that that particular thought sounded a lot like Kijo.

So they walked on by, until the horrible –and they were worse than Kijo when she was just starting out- bounty hunters forced a fight. He took on the ones that came for him and watched his little brother to see where and how much he had improved. Luffy was better than he'd last seen him, but Yajuu-hime had visited back periodically and checked up or tortured him depending on who the story was told by and the definitions they used. He did remember that she held to Garp's definition of training.

As the sword wielding idiot hunter –that _was _a Kijo thought- got closer to his little brother he decided to heat up his blade which surprised the incompetent. This was mostly so he didn't feel like a failure as an older brother who wasn't able to watch out for his little brother. Luffy used his gum-gum bazooka and sent the pathetic moron packing. Taking advantage of the failed ambushers' collective shock they had continued their walk to the shore. They weren't Kijo at all or anywhere near as good even if they had been 'hunters' for longer than her.

He went to tell Luffy that he should get on his ship, but rubber-head was already waving and yelling like an idiot before stretching out to there –which left him with having to clean up all the idiots around him. So he proceeded to do so in less than a minute and then get to his ship. He didn't kill the idiots after him though. He had no particular reason to –at the moment.

He then managed to reach his brother's ship in time to hear him and his crew discussing him and his strength. Aki might have be a crazy witch in truth –she was not only getting better about the whole thing slowly but whatever crazy was left was the good kind of crazy as long as it wasn't directed at you- but she found out and taught him some neat tricks –like how to properly eavesdrop from a large distance away was one of them. Yeah, those plans his fellow commanders had made? He totally overheard. A nice slump forward, a fall on the deck and his narcolepsy made a ready excuse. It was totally worth all the torment he'd gone through in order to learn how to make his 'feel' when it came to those who had the inclination to inspect him using haki feel as if he was actually asleep. That's actually where his so-called sleep paranoia came from, although really it should have come earlier in his life like when he had started waking up with various snakes and venomous creatures in his bed.

They were rather vicious little brats now that he thought about it.

Haki had far more uses than most people ever thought it had, but to actually play and expand on haki's capabilities required an astounding amount of mental flexibility to play with and a lot of mental fortitude.

It explained why Aki was so quirky at times –beyond the semi-perpetual zen state that she had going nowadays. Most people kept a lid on their anger and she had several safety latches on top of this.

This was a good thing –haki and magic when working together _amplified_ each other and they both had some emotional factor to consider. Aki having a moment of pure insanity or her actually losing control over her temper was something that was to be avoided. The one major mental breakdown he had been witnessed to and not just the minor brooding and crying jags but actual mental breakdown. That one was where he learned that she actually was a witch was not something he wanted to see again. Well her confessing to being one who had gotten a bit crazy later on and did some crazy soul magic to control how and where she re-incarnates, and that she was not just 'that spoiled bratty bitch that actually wanted to join the marines and then decided against it like a coward' as he had once known her many years ago, was not something he wanted to witness again. It was dangerous to his continued health.

So they totally lied to everyone who questioned what happened between them. It did cement their bonds as best friends though as Sabo was by then his brother –friendship that had remained platonic until a few months after Sabo's sixteenth birthday. He smirked in remembrance at those bittersweet memories. If only… Ace thought as he continued eavesdropping on his little brother and his crew.

"-but I'd win now if we tried!" Luffy began laughing that 'shishishi' laugh of his.

'_Say what?_' Ace thought. This wasn't going to stand.

"I assume that's another groundless claim." An unfamiliar but male voice said. Ace would later identify him as the swordsman.

"Who can win what now?" Ace asked, landing on the railing of his brother's ship after an easy jump.

"Oh! Ace! This is the crew I was talking about!"

"Oh! Thank you for taking care of my little brother." He replied automatically.

Manners were important. They'd help you live longer in most cases -although he had noticed that there were people who preferred rudeness. He and Sabo weren't that picky and neither was Luffy as long as it wasn't insults to other people that they cared for, but neither did they get numerous unwanted offers for simply walking down the street either. Aki preferred bluntness when being spoken to as long as it wasn't rude or overly crass, but she and a few other people of her acquaintances were able to pull off the old-world formal naturally. Man, was she ever able to turn a phrase that meant one thing into something else.

"Eh? Oh, not at all." Luffy's crew replied.

He noticed how in-sync the crew was. That was a good sign. Even the fluff ball with antlers who had to have been there the shortest amount of time was also in-sync. He had gotten quite good at identifying where people were from based on accent alone –unless they were Grand Line born which always muddled things.

"He might be a bit much for you to handle but..." He said as remembered how many times Luffy had found trouble. It eventually became a non-issue once Luffy had gotten a decent hold on his powers and they didn't have to bail him out of every disaster. He and Sabo had worked out something resembling shifts for that and at times just left him to handle it. Some of those times he had left Luffy alone to handle it himself; he had been elsewhere or _distracted_ to say the least. He and Aki were vicious little monsters when they were younger.

"Oh, not at all." The crew chorused back. A really good sign, the flame wielding second commander decided. They'd probably make it to the New World.

"Take good care of 'im for me, will ya?"

Various agreements and mumbles came from them all.

The smoking blond became his second favorite crew mate when he said that they probably had a lot of catching up to do and offered to make him tea. Brotherly bias accounted for a lot of leniency in the area of favorites. Ace turned the blond cook down politely. In return for the offer he did light his cigarette. The brand did smell familiar although he didn't know from where.

Then his little brother's crew said they had expected someone like Luffy's brother to be a lot more reckless. The lady with orange hair then expressed her disbelief at his and Luffy's brotherhood.

So what if they didn't possess the same bloodline? In the eyes of the World Government they were as equally guilty for what their father's had done or were doing. Even beyond that, they were sworn brothers –it was binding as long as they remembered and honored that vow. It might have taken him a while _–years-_ to get comfortable with the idea, given all that their fathers had done, but as Aki put it best years ago. 'When a single person could call down on the might of the World Government for refusing them, you only had one thing to do –get strong enough to resist the power of the World Government.'

Surviving, living and thriving were apparently refusal enough. So it wasn't just a mindless rivalry with Aki that spurred all their clashes and disagreements –just a fair few of them. Any tricks, skills and knowledge could be useful in surviving should such a thing happen. They tested them. Sure it looked like they were trying to kill each other –and there were numerous times that they not only wanted to but came damn close. There were numerous reasons that he and she broke up –and incompatibility wasn't one of them.

It was also why he was somewhat grateful to have an excuse away from his nakama –however the circumstances were far from ideal. Teach killed Thatch. His _nakama_. Teach was under his command. Teach became his responsibility to hunt down. He planned to have some new tricks in his arsenal as being out on his own gave him the freedom to practice with his fire like he hadn't been able to since he was his own Captain. He was truly starting to understand Kijo's insistence on listening and paying attention to old legends and fairy tales from everywhere. They worked well as inspiration. Now if only he could get that technique to work… calculations and ideas burned for the testing.

He smirked at Luffy's spirited nakama with orange hair who expressed disbelief at their brotherhood without showing anything he had been thinking about on his face. Not the 'hey, pretty lady' smirk, but the 'Yeah, I'm here. I'm bad. What'cha gonna do about it? Jump my bones?' smirk.

His caring sentiment had set the swordsman and big dream –Mihawk was the best for a reason- admiring and the little fur ball declaring that brotherhood was awesome. Given the seemingly mis-matched nature of the crew, the blond cook and the swordsmen had to be the most worldly and grounded of them, although his other members were intelligent and good in their fields no doubt. His little bro was selective like that.

"See! Aren't these guys neat!" Luffy boasted.

Ace had to agree that they had potential. It's why he made the offer he knew would be refused. The offer to join the Whitebeard Pirates –to join Pops. An offer that who-knows how many rookie and veteran pirate crews would jump on. Luffy refused as expected.

Then the billions' ships came in view –and it was apparent that they had at least met since Luffy had said something about that. So feeling his big brother instincts act up, he offered and then took care of them sinking the five ships and most likely killing everyone on the ships with his signature 'fire-fist' after showing off a bit. Style was always important.

Luffy as always was easily entertained, but he knew that he had shocked just about everyone on his brother's crew except the swordsman. The swordsman was a bit alarmed and that's why he smirked again as he pushed up his favorite orange hat -his black hat was in his bag, along with his black bandana. They were gifts after all. He didn't get many of them. It was little wonder why if his parentage was known that he'd be called the 'son of the devil.' He had just killed who knows how many people and didn't feel a scrap of guilt. He wasn't too happy about doing such a thing either, but he wasn't feeling remorse over them either. It wouldn't be the first ship he had massacred with his devil fruit powers and most likely not the last either. To be fair, they were trying to kill his little brother. He'd do the same in defense of his nakama or Pops.

He was just beating himself up over it, and knew he was doing it, which is what annoyed him most. She would likely call him broody again and drag him off somewhere to do something else until the temptation to brood had passed. A conscience doesn't prevent sin; it prevents the enjoyment of it. He powered up his speeder and headed back to Luffy's ship and hopped back up and attached the rope to his brother's ship.

* * *

Once he was back on ship it was clear that his brother's crew was just as party happy as Shanks' as they celebrated anything and everything with a toast. He had to correct their assumption that he was joining them. He was a Whitebeard pirate. Pops had taken him in after all. Even if he knew about the blood in his veins, and all that trouble he had put the crew –his brothers and sisters- through.

That however didn't stop them from toasting to some obscure and strange things –and the orange lady who was apparently the navigator as she had the log-pose, felt the need to explain the obvious, although it wasn't needed at all. Seriously, who celebrates 'Medicine is horrible!'? The crew had some serious goofs in it, although none were goofier than Luffy.

"Ace! Are you sure you won't join us?" Luffy asked.

"I'm chasing a certain man." He replied back. It seemed like they knew of him, or at least what he did at Drum Island, but he explained further about why he was chasing him. He explained the rumors that he had caught of Blackbeard being in Yuba. This put the lady –she was apparently a princess and so he wasn't going to call her a girl- with blue hair into a frenzy as she pulled out a map.

He quickly started to memorize the map that was shoved under his face. He was never making fun or light of Aki's chosen profession again –it was hard. Harder than he thought it would be. Chasing down rumors, sightings, leads and getting people to part with that vital bit of information that allowed the hunter to get a little bit closer to their prey.

Pirates were plentiful on the Grand Line, but it wasn't like they raided in any set schedule or followed established trade routes. Even though 'Blackbeard' had been active and on his own for a while now, the fact that he had raided Drum was telling that the information he had on this side of the line was more than a little dated. Before he, Sabo or even Aki were born an attack on Drum would have placed an instant bounty on his head. As Drum became less important to the world at large, any attacks became less important.

Ace sort of did want Blackbeard to get a bounty soon –mostly because more people would see his face so he wouldn't be chasing down all sorts of dead ends and false leads even if it did cost people their lives. A few lives here verses a multitude later –and there would be a later as Teach proved that he only valued his own wants and needs. Hell, chances were that Teach could have asked or traded for that damn devil fruit that he killed Thatch over –not that it would change the fact that Teach was at heart a traitorous scum-bag. Otherwise, he might have to take more drastic measures to get the information to hunt him down.

As this was his responsibility, he wasn't going to recruit Aki onto the hunt for Blackbeard. No matter how much having her with him would speed up the hunt. Particularly, if she decided to cheat with 'sympathy' even though using the higher tiers of the ability came with a cost.

Mostly, he wasn't asking because he knew that he was still in love with her. Also, further association with him and other pirates –he had heard some rather wild rumors about her and him and some really off the wall information theories and some that were quite accurate- would further damage the rather fragile position she held as a bounty hunter.

The last letter he had from her, had her visiting North Blue again but that was nearly a month old but it did include the latest bit of gossip concerning how the World Government viewed her. They were damn close to just declaring her a criminal by association and putting a damn high bounty on her head –not that she wouldn't have earned it consider all that she had done over the years. She mentioned something about lying low for a while or just retiring for a few years. The possibilities that particular phrase entailed and the relationship between them as it was now –it would be far too much temptation for either him or her to resist. So remove the temptation.

Looking at the map, it seemed that they would be traveling together for a while. They celebrated that with a toast and after that he had to sigh. Typical Luffy.

* * *

Ace quickly found his brother's crew to be very amusing which was good as he had nothing to do. This was thanks to being a guest on the ship while the larger ship towed his little craft. He'd never been more thankful for his interest in mechanics as he had worked to build that himself before he had ever joined Pops –although he had been lacking in a few parts and pieces. Certain materials were a pain to get at times and in good quality. As he planned the next upgrade he got some entertainment. His brother's antics along with his crew made at least for a very interesting show.

It was practically official that the blond was a favorite person of his on the ship –next to his brother. The swordsman held close though. He seemed to at least have an idea of what and how to do things. He wasn't a complete and utterly hopeless naive person like the reindeer and he had steel in him unlike the sniper with the long nose. The girls seemed to be the weakest on ship but he knew that the navigator was cunning if how she kept everyone in line proved.

* * *

The princess had the ship stop to send a message so he got the political situation from Zoro who was a no-nonsense and serious person. He was the unofficial first mate or so it seemed. He even explained how the Baroque Works system went. So he killed about a thousand people if everyone was on... doubtful that they were but he still couldn't find a scrap of guilt over the act. A vague sense of pity was all he felt for them. They tried to mess with his little brother after all. But that Crocodile was behind this mess? The Shichibukai?

"I knew that Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai was here, but a pirate trying to steal a kingdom? It seems like a bad joke." Ace didn't mention that he knew of a few jokes concerning just that. Typically they were about his father and all the jokes were rather tasteless.

Ace continued on anyway. "A pirate dropping anchor in one spot and settling down? Don't tell me that he's trying to usurp the throne."

It was possible but unlikely. He loved being a pirate. He couldn't imagine being or doing anything different. It was hard-fought for freedom. His little brother called for them to set sail again –so the crew that were on shore started boarding again.

He wanted to kick something in frustration, but settled for frowning. His father's legacy colored innumerable things around the world –something that tended to happen when you got _that_ famous. Even for horrible things. He couldn't even find guilt or remorse for killing those agents. He was definitely a devil –or the son of one which just made him and Aki match as she was a she-devil.

He focused on a different subject since he knew that that she could materialized out of nowhere just to strike him down if he had a pity party and didn't invite her.

"There could be another side to this takeover thing." Ace told Zoro, instead of speaking of any of his private thoughts.

"Another side?"

"Some sort of deeper goal... Crocodile was known as a clever pirate. He probably hasn't lost that by becoming the Government's dog. You'd be surprised at how many people and resources a person could sink into a diversion or a feint. It just depends on how much they're willing to sacrifice. I could see him sacrificing everything that he's built up here. No one becomes famous or strong enough to be asked to become a Shichibukai unless they're willing to sacrifice it all." Ace reflected, as he thought back to the days when he and his own crew of pirates had blazed a trail through the Grand Line and into the New World.

It was something that was true –unless they were very, very clever and lucky. He and Aki were like two sides of the same coin. He just happened to get the shitty side –as usual. Then again, she also had a shitty hand in life although better than his in some ways as her mother was alive and while rumors abounded about a connection between Shanks and Benihime no one was quite sure how they were related or if they were at all –and she just hid the bad things better. A lot better, since she had to be cautious when it came to her mother and sister. Makino, scary as she was, wasn't what a person could call a fighter. She could handle herself and her bar with easy and occasionally a bit of violence but she wasn't what someone would call strong or a capable fighter the likes that were common on the Grand Line. Her sister on the other hand, while a miniature she-devil in the making, was still young as she hadn't even hit puberty yet. In comparison he got off easily as Luffy was only three years younger than he. She had precautions after precautions planned out for most any eventuality. Ace hoped that they weren't needed.

There was a reason for that promise between the two of them after all. That promise was one of the few things that brought him peace whenever he needed it as much as he hated that promise as well.

* * *

It took less than a few hours out of the port towns for Ace to decide that Alabasta was a weird place. There were plenty of those on the Grand Line but this was going to go into that top twenty list. Not that high up, but still in the list. Those Kung-fu dugongs were surprisingly amusing and troublesome. He really wanted to know where they had gotten the drum from that they were banging on while he and his brother's crew were leaving.

It didn't take them long to get to Erumalu which seemed to be dried up ruins. It made him want to trash Crocodile and his syndicate to see a once nice place reduced to such, but he knew that Blackbeard would do worse to more if not caught.

Luffy had already laid dibs on Crocodile so Ace kept his cool and maintained a distant face.

In Erumalu did the princess explain how Alabasta got to this state in part thanks to large quantities of a highly illegal substance called Dance Powder which made Ace want to scowl in anger. While he hated the World Government for what it did to his mother, and him and the world, it did do some good things like making Dance Powder illegal. He was going to mention that to Aki in their latest letter to each other. Mostly so that she could track down the place it was made at and destroy it.

After they found a skull, Vivi cried and Luffy did pointless destruction of a dilapidated building while he dug a shallow grave. Ace blinked in confusion. Wasn't he the sibling with the anger problems? Luffy was the happy-go-lucky idiot, Sabo was the scholar and Kijo was the vicious, teasing older sis. Makino's youngest was the sane sibling –provided she was kept away from various temptations and wasn't allowed to speak. Yajuu-hime had been tinkering with the idea of having her apprentice at Water 7. She would probably be the only one out of their group to stay completely legal –unless she was experimenting again.

He was thankful that everyone thought it was an earthquake. Babysitting her was something he was never going to do again –ever. Especially to that she-devil.

* * *

Traveling with the crew was still amusing. The little reindeer was a zoan, a human one which was more than a bit surprising, and they were still as entertaining as they had been on ship. He truly had to wonder if his brother's crew would survive the desert since Luffy was known to screw the simplest of things up. Even camping with them was a mess. They were adorable little rookies. It made him want to smile since they treated each other like family. This was how a pirate crew was supposed to be in his opinion and it made him miss his nakama all the more.

Then the sandstorm came. His narcolepsy hit and he slept through it which was nice. The dream he had throughout the sudden sleep attack wasn't so much. Narcolepsy dropped a person with it straight into dream-land. Sometimes he landed in the pleasant parts and sometimes he didn't. This time he didn't. It started out pleasant enough, but don't all nightmares do? The crew had yet to catch onto that little problem of his and Luffy never mentioned it.

Luffy proved his terminal case of idiocy once again, although he would admit that it was nice to have an actual desert-dweller with them even if she kept forgetting to mention all the dangers of the desert until the last possible moment. _That _was how Luffy managed to lose all his crew's supplies, although Ace found it amusing that Luffy chased after the birds instead of using his rubber powers to catch them. So he waited for Luffy to return. He felt the need to apologize for Luffy's hopelessness. There was no damn way he was ever mentioning Ryoko's home island to them _ever_. Marco had actually flown over there and then almost straight back. Kijo had a _talent_ for understatement. She had intentionally omitted the part about there being undead dragons –the plants growing on them making it apparent that they were long dead- on the island that were flight and fight capable which he had later told Marco was rather typical of her.

Then the giant purple sand-something lizard showed up and he had admitted that while he and his brother's crew were obviously rookies they were strong. Seeing as how the so called dragons hunted in pairs, he took a family preferred route to beating overgrown lizards and anything that would be large enough to eat them. It was an astoundingly sound tactical decision if crazy at first glance. He burst into flames and cooked it from the inside out. Being made of fire meant heat and light to certain degrees were his to control. So he was able to cook things evenly and quickly.

He then hopped out like it was nothing big and took out his knife. It was then his food. He cooked it after all. He was going to eat it.

* * *

Sometime after the girls had acquired a camel to ride on, he had managed to lose them all.

He had no idea how.

A narcoleptic fit would have had him hit the sand and face-plant. He would have remembered getting back up. He mentally cursed the narcolepsy that he inherited. He had never heard about the Pirate King dropping asleep at any point but it could have been forgotten about or from his mother's side.

He consoled himself with the fact that at least he wasn't like Yajuu-hime. Over the years it had become really damn difficult to tell if she was awake or not. She would and could sleep-walk, sleep-talk and even sleep fight. She had trained her unconscious mind to the point that she could even hunt or track down people and bring them in without ever waking. It was only sort of scary to come across.

Oh, she slept and rested, but not really like a normal person would which said more about her than it should. The most dangerous part was that while asleep she was pure reflex and instinct. That's when he learned that things like mercy and compassion and impulse control were things that were only available to the waking mind. As long as potential threats remained at a certain distance, she was fine with them. There was a reason that he had shuffled Thatch out of his cabin so quickly. Having her try to kill Thatch for invading her 'territory' while she was still asleep was something he didn't want to try to explain.

It also resulted in her being somewhat absent minded as the sleeping mind and the waking mind don't always share what they've been up to. She however could easily play that off with the 'my mind wandered' or 'lost my line of thinking' card if she woke up in an unfamiliar situation. She had done that a lot over the years. The most hilarious situation she had ever woke up to was on a date with a marine. The most common was in a single hotel room on shore that she didn't consciously remember checking into. Sometimes she even left herself notes.

That Kijo did make everything seem so easy although he did know the amount of effort and how much time she spent making sure that everything would work her way. Doing certain chores with minimal effort, nudging a person to act here or there, a suggestion into this ear, hours upon countless hours of practice until she shook with the strain of the effort to keep standing… all of this effort and time spent to give the illusion of ease.

He didn't quite understand why it was needed, but he humored her as he always would. If she said it was needed, then it probably was. He was just glad that she knew how to avoid getting burned out however close she pushed it at times.

Knowing her she probably had a way to cover any and all terrains easy for one. For the ocean she had her rarely used ships, the sea kings and just about every possible animal that was large enough for her to ride on. Since he had seen the merfolk at Fishman Island several times now, he knew that she had some strong merfolk blood in her veins –however diluted it had gotten over the generations. He knew that her Grandma on her mother's side was a mermaid even if the how gave him a headache. It's why she could swim at such depths and stay down for so long. She also had roc-hawks for sky travel and 'public' messages and on land was usually whatever was on hand be it bear, bird or reptile. Even without using beasts of burden he had no doubt that she'd be able to construct some sort of sand sled with nothing more than a few tent poles, two stolen jackets and some rope. All of which he didn't have.

He continued traveling and then a gigantic scorpion appeared before him. He warned it off with a flash of haki but it didn't listen or he didn't do that right for a scorpion. So he lightly toasted it.

"Can't say I didn't warn you." He told the crispy critter. He briefly wondered, was a scorpion an insect or not? That would throw things off after all.

He sighed as he continued up the next sandy hill and ran into an upright purple lizard with a red mane as he continued thinking. Why were there so annoying reptiles in the desert? Why did his little brother get lost? Why didn't he have at least similar sensing capabilities of that sea-devil?

He knew the answer to the last two. Luffy had no sense of direction and that Yajuu-hime had practiced and practiced with haki for hours on end for _years_. Actually, now that he thought of it, she had been using the observation haki constantly for over half her life now on some level.

Seeing that the lizard at least understood what would happen to him if it didn't cooperate he knew what to do. Hitch a ride. His former lover wasn't the only one that could do that after all. He had wrangled a sea king or two himself before he ate the Mera-mera fruit after all.

* * *

Ace considered the fake rebels as almost as hilarious as his brother and his crew. So when they got mad about him eating all of their food, he showed them the wall. He might have roped them into supplying him with food and water –but he was a pirate. It was sort of expected.

Meeting his little brother again was somewhat unexpected but he did bask in the praise of his little brother's crew. He also had to inform them of where he got it all thanks to the princess. He then had to explain that there were people out there that would take advantage of the situation in Alabasta. He knew Luffy had had this explained to him before with a book-smack to emphasize the important bits. He had to say it.

"I know that Yajuu-hime explained something similar to you before."

"Eh! You mean Aki-nee-san!" Luffy replied. "Is she here too!?"

"It's unlikely. She's usually further into the Grand Line than this or maybe even in one of the Blues unless she's gone and taken a vacation again, which is also possible… You just never know with her. She tends to ignore the Calm Belts, remember?"

"Yeah!" Luffy replied, clearly lying. Thankfully as Luffy's crew was behind him, they couldn't see how horrible Luffy was at lying. His little brother was so forgetful and utterly incapable of lying.

"Ignore the Calm Belts?" Nami asked like it was unheard of.

"You have a sister too?" Zoro asked.

"What?" The princess asked.

"How?" The sniper questioned.

Ace was very tempted to give the sniper an abridged version of the mentally scarring talk that she had given him and Sabo. The talk he felt like giving was _not _something along the lines of a 'when mommy and daddy love each other a whole lot...' type of talk.

"Is she as pretty as rumors say?" The cook asked.

Ace felt pity for Sanji. The guy was practically doomed to an early grave around her.

"Riding sea kings!" Luffy replied. A number of shocked looks, some minor choking in disbelief was followed by a flurry of questions.

Ace continued to ignore the flare of questions with practiced ease. His and Benihime's friendship had sparked some mad rumors at one point.

"It figures that the sister of two monsters is a monster too." He heard someone mutter.

Ace was pretty sure it was long-nose. Yassop's son didn't seem much like Shanks' sharpshooter. Then again, he wasn't his father either.

"Wouldn't someone like that have a bounty?" The green-haired swordsman asked.

Ace noted that the rest backed off as it seems that this was something he knew. So he was a former bounty hunter then? How interesting.

"She likes her privacy and works hard to insure it." He was pretty sure that most of them got what he meant. She went through some rather extreme measures for it too. Disguise, magically diverting attention, learning how to disable any sort of security systems and her camera hatred to name a few measures… some of them just had some odd side-effects.

Usually she kept her 'feel' at the same frequency as that a black den den mushi used to work as an interceptor for large and short range surveillance and switched to white for keeping herself private using haki in such a precise yet highly unusual way. The den den mushi hated her for it. That hatred was reciprocated. A unique aspect of that sort of passive surveillance was that she didn't feel like a threat and later after visiting Ryoko's home island she had learned to become practically invisible.

Good pictures were practically non-existent.

The only picture that he knew of that had her image clearly was the one painting that one of her 'crew' painted of her –she had even posed for it. When he was fifteen he, Sabo and Luffy had spent quite a bit of time and effort getting a picture of her. It didn't quite work out.

"How?" The bluenette asked.

"Having multiple aliases. Benihime is one of them." Ace replied with a casual shrug.

Aki had a few aliases with different skills sets, abilities and appearances. Although he never quite knew how she managed to fool everyone about everything involved but there were some really gullible people out there and she was a first-class liar and con-artist.

Benihime was a female swordsman who was more of a bounty hunter than a pirate however close and however far across the line she skirted.

The bounty hunting is why she wasn't classified as a pirate although he was pretty sure that she could and did bribe or blackmail various officials to ignore the less than legal actions she did when she wasn't hunting at times if -she ever got caught in the first place. She was strong enough that some people had started to think of her as a Shichibukai candidate at the very least.

"Benihime? The Crimson Blade?" The swordman asked.

"She has more than one alias?" The navigator asked.

"Yeah, some are civilian so that she's not mobbed by adoring fans or fight-seekers, but is that epitaph associated with Benihime now? I was pretty sure that is was either the Sword Maiden Benihime or that other nickname that she hates with that one." He asked. She had a fair few aliases, but she had three favorite identities –and those all had various feats, accomplishments and nicknames associated with each. Those weren't her only identities though. Some were civilian after all.

"It's said that she crossed blades with Mihawk and only had minor injuries after a three-day fight!" The swordsman replied. It looked like she had a fan-boy then. Luffy had said something about his swordsman wanting to be the best swordsmen so it was only proper for him to be a bit Mihawk obsessed, but a Benihime-fan was more dangerous and somewhat suicidal. Particularly if they were grabby.

"There's only one point and place in the year that she's known to frequent for those who don't know her at all. It's really about the only time you can be sure to find her. From somewhere about mid-February to early March there's an almost constant clashing of blades that echo through the Grand Line for a few hours to a day at times. Sometimes there's a stretch of an hour or so of silence to a few days. Some other powerful swordsmen are there too, and it has become something like an unofficial competition for the best swordsman in the world. Not that the rest of the world hasn't tried to crash it before with varying degrees of success. All that noise makes it hard to sleep at times, ya know?"

"Wait, the two of you, are pirates and your older sister is a BOUNTY HUNTER!?" Nami screeched.

Ace frowned. Man, that was a delayed reaction if he ever saw one.

"She's really strong too! Ace even got his ass kicked sometimes!"

"THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING!" The navigator said.

It seemed that she possessed the most common sense on board out of all of them, or so the logia figured. He wouldn't worry about her eventual decline into insanity that was sure to accompany her as she sailed with his little brother sometime later. She'd be far more fun then.

"So? You should meet the rest of the family." He did remember what she had informed him about Luffy's father and his own knowledge of the man. Their family –blood or sworn- was a mix of different affiliations that were technically in conflict with each other. Their family was crazy.

"So who's stronger?" Zoro asked.

Ace sighed. "Who's stronger? We haven't had a full-out, no holds barred, knock-down and drag-out fight in years so I don't know who's stronger. Depends I guess. We got real vicious in those. And, we have out-grown most of our fighting –and it is not just us not fighting to not pay up on that bet either. At least in our fights she did have to pay her full attention to me. I do remember her kicking your ass while reading little bro, something she never was able to do with me."

"That was a humiliating defeat." Luffy admitted.

"Many defeats." Ace corrected.

"What does she look like?" The reindeer asked.

"It's said that she's a devil that hunts those with vengeance. Her hair is red with the blood of those that she's slain and her eyes burn red with the fires of hell!" Usopp began.

He had more experience with the rest of the world than Ace had thought. The swordsman smacked him on the back of his head and corrected that description.

"Think first of Nami as a red head with hair the color of flame with Vivi's hair style and eyes that seem red depending on the light. She favors various shades of dark red for her clothing. She uses a sword that's said to be impossibly heavy like it's a feather. Her practice blade was so heavy that it knocked over my sensei when she had held it out to him. No one knows her real name but that's what they call her. I might have been known as a demon in East Blue in my own bounty hunting days, but it's said that she's a born-killer that bathes in the blood of her kills."

Ace raised an eyebrow in question. It was a surprisingly accurate if somewhat dated description and they obviously had met before. She hadn't worn her hair in a high ponytail in _years_.

"We've met. She gives good advice. Sometimes, too good."

Ace studied the swordsman's grimace and his expression as he caressed his white sword. That was far too similar to one that he found on his own face on far too many occasions when with her. He had either been masterfully conned by her or she had managed to get someone else to con him –so he wasn't a complete fanboy then, but he could still tease her about that the next time they met or exchanged messages that weren't 'public.' Hiding things from Pops and crew was hard, but potentially worth it. They had yet to question why he liked to wear the gloves. In fact, no one had (1).

"She can't be! Such a beautiful woman could never be so cruel!"

Ace blinked in slight confusion at the blond cook. He would admit that she was pretty, gorgeous even, but the second a person did more than look or comment from a distance, she was a method of committing suicide if you weren't someone she liked. Prolonged and messy suicide if the person never quite got the hint that they weren't wanted or actually groped her. That was part of the reason why she's known as Sword _Maiden_ Benihime. A number of fellows that backed down called her a bitch which is how the other epitaph –that she hated- first came into being. As far as he knew, they didn't know how good of a nose she had or far more people would be more regular when it came to their personal hygiene.

"She sounds frighteningly strong." Vivi said.

"She's your sister Luffy?" Nami questioned.

"Yup!" Luffy laughed.

"But Zoro is really nice! So are those rumors wrong?" The reindeer asked.

"Eh, somewhat." Ace admitted. "She's really nice to kids and animals and those that are in a bad situation. She'd be helpful to have here for you guys. So be thankful that you never met her bad side, which is something to be avoided if at all possible."

From what was explained to him about Crocodile and his organization and the situation in the country she would prove to be a boon –but she wasn't here. It was already July, so she had to have gotten word that he was tracking Blackbeard even if she was all the way in North Blue when she got it. He wasn't looking forward to explaining why he was doing this on his own but he knew that she'd understand. That's what 'sympathy' did.

"Sounds like she'd kick Crocodile's ass for sure!" Usopp proclaimed.

"That's likely and probably with a minimum of effort when done right. He's considered among the weakest of the Government's Menagerie for a reason. Mihawk is said to be among the strongest of the Shichibukai. Jinbe is considered to be of middling strength of the Shichibukai, yet I beat him before I joined Pops –so she could probably take out Crocodile easy."

"Government's Menagerie? That's an odd name." Nami said.

"It's a pirate's nickname for the Shichibukai. All the current one's are animal themed or known to associate with them. Besides, don't you guys have something to do about these fake rebels?"

They quickly returned to that problem. Ace found that rookies were fun to tease and rather predictable as a simple subject change distracted them –easy. This change of topic, lead to the princess deciding to test them and Ace was more than appalled and amazed that it worked. There really were people _that_ damn gullible. He had fun being the mysterious character. No wonder that Kijo liked to act like that. He also found out that scorpion was good to eat and tasted sort of like lobster.

* * *

It was another day's traveling, one attempted interrogation and breakfast later that he finally had a lead –even if it didn't seem like one. The Grand Line worked in strange ways after all. After breakfast he had been cleaning his fork and plate as was polite.

Makino and her devil children couldn't abide rudeness or untidiness unless it was on their terms or they found it cute. It was a long ingrained habit of self-preservation even if he knew that they were nowhere around. Then the leftover meat had disappeared into two children's bellies that were from the badlands. They had provided the lead to Scorpion –the man who was rumored to have beaten Blackbeard and the reason he was travelling to Yuba. Scorpion proved to be a bust –but that was expected. A no-name bounty hunter? Highly unlikely. Get real.

Watching the two kids with their father, was a bit heart-touching, but it irked him that Scorpion said he was the greatest bounty hunter of the world. However the man had a good reason for it. A kid needs to have a dream. He just wished that they hadn't gotten into a situation to where they needed saving because of him.

"Oi! Scorpion, while you're not much of a bounty hunter I'll acknowledge that you have my respect as one –right up there next to Benihime and Valentine!" Ace replied. The respect levels were for totally different things of course. Him for going so far as to give his kids a dream, Aki on the other hand was a damn good hunter. The best, after all. He really wondered what would happen if people knew that for all that she travelled and did that bounty hunting was actually rather far down her to-do list.

"You've met Bloody Valentine too?" Zoro asked.

This time instead of fan-boying he paled drastically.

Ace had forgotten how terrifying Valentine's reputation was. He wondered what Zoro would think if he was informed that Valentine was nothing more than a gigantic prank on the world?

"Surprisingly polite, if a bit distant. However, I've got to get going. Seeing as how Blackbeard isn't in Alabasta, I have no reason to be here."

"Where will you go?"

"Scorpion said that there was a man who saw him in the west. Guess I'll check it out." He tossed Luffy his vivre card. "Always hang onto that."

"Huh? It's just a scrap of paper."

"That scrap of paper will bring you and me together again sometime. Unlike that Kijo, I don't have a way to find out where you are just by listening to the wind or by having an information network that makes the revolutionaries led by Dragon drool over." He felt the need to specify which revolutionaries, although he knew he had just shocked the crew and princess again. Luffy didn't even notice, which was typical of him. He was usually clueless.

"Yeah?" Luffy asked.

"You don't want it?"

"No, I'll keep it."

"As for the rest of you, it's natural for a big brother to worry about his bungling kid brother. He might be a bit much to handle, but take good care of him."

"Huh?" Everyone except Luffy said in sync.

"Luffy. When we meet next, I'll see you at the top."

"Yeah."

While the kids and Scorpion waved goodbye to his brother's crew he pulled a quick disappearing act. No wonder both that Kijo was always in such a happy mood. Being mysterious was fun! Hunting however was not. He dearly missed his crew and Pops. He marched onwards to the west. At least going west wasn't the problem even in the Grand Line. Just go off into the sunset. That sounded familiar.

He analyzed his thoughts there. Why did it feel like he was missing some reference somewhere? Then he realized that the 'go off into the sunset' bit was from part of a story Sabo had written and published. It was something similar to a philosophical action story.

He needed to read that sometime soon so he could mock Sabo over it whenever they would meet next. He still found it immensely hilarious that Dragon and his revolution was now more 'dangerous' than ever thanks to the book royalties a.k.a. money brought in because of Sabo's books and written erotica. Apparently having a plot that was actually a plot made a difference. The other books written by Sabo had inspired a revolution in thought although it was young yet. Thinking about things like this made him think about the future. He could only see a mess that wouldn't solve itself for years.

* * *

A/N; Ace has an amusing thought process to write and I also had to summarize those few episodes during it also which might account for errors/choppiness. He has so few lines in those episodes... so sad. Ace also has a few complexes and quirks and a lot of self-hatred –most of which will be elaborated on later. Also, Saiyuki reference for the win! Anyone who doesn't know what that is –look up the manga. It's awesome. The anime is less awesome.

1. The gloves, hat and bandana reference has a link in Chapter 9 for a refresh. Or you could google Portgas D. Ace by *bayanghitam on deviantart.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N; More from Aki's Point of View. This was supposed to be an Aki interlude chapter –and it does explain why she's not spamming magic- but the chapter decided to go from a different character half-way through. Messed with the age difference between Kuina and Zoro. Zoro is at most four years younger than her in canon or he just hit his growth-spurt really late... so I went with the later.

Kuina's age and B-day are unknown so I decided September 7th. Zoro's birthday is November 11th.

Ace is 14. Aki is 15. Sabo is 14. It is April so Luffy is 10. Kuina is 13. Zoro is 12.

**2/1/2013 Edit**

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Chapter 16: Of Haki, Magic and Swords

Haki and magic were two very different yet somewhat similar things, Aki had decided at fifteen while training.

Magic she was intimately more familiar with. She had studied, taught and researched it for _decades_ in her past life. For that, she had Hermione to thank. It was impressive that she had gotten onto a chocolate frog card while she was still alive considering everything else at the time. That girl had work-ethic.

While there were still gaps in her memory, she was pretty sure that she had _most_ of the information in her head now. Sure there were minor gaps from what she could tell, such as she couldn't always recall what she had done when she was twenty-seven a week before Halloween, but a person can't always remember everything that ever happened to them –especially not with the additional complication of reincarnation however unorthodox she had done so.

In those decades she had studied and worked with her magical abilities –wandless and wanded- to beyond surgical precision and sheer reflex in her last life and expanded her knowledge from the arcane to the obscure to the forgotten touching and exploring different fields as needed or perked her interest. It was absolutely crazy as the war had been over with for ages –or not so crazy as she did remember decapitating one of her assassins with a wandless cutting curse but in surviving a war you'd come out with quirks that helped you survive. It was why between work, study and play she had exercised. In truth, there were professional Quidditch players that were less in shape than she maintained in her past life even after she had reached the 'old lady' stage.

Between her physical conditioning from Quidditch, her continued but private sword training and the martial arts she had picked up from hanging around her cousin who eventually branched out from boxing, the war, daily grind and other factors… the amount of stress was immense. That was part of the reason she had several arrangements with different men –a friends with benefits but less friends with more benefits as she did like sex- who didn't know about magic but knew that she was highly trained and likely to kill them if they breathed wrong before, during or after sex. It still didn't quite prevent her from killing them by accident at times. In her past life she had gotten rather good with healing spells, mind and secrecy spells out of necessity in order to have a something resembling a sex life without attracting unwanted attention. Broken necks and subconscious strangulation to the point of death did call a lot of unwanted attention. Being caught at doing something illegal was something she avoided. No evidence. No crime. Just a mystery.

As for magical mastery in this life, it was the tweaking and relearning that altered spell that was annoying. She had found the most difficult part of getting a spell down was finding an appropriate use for it and working with it to the point of reflex. That was easy enough but time-consuming.

The main problem was she had no damn wand. She had no wand so it was infinitely more difficult as spells were _designed to be used with a wand and had been for over two millennia!_ She wanted to bitch and complain but she had always been too stubborn for her own good and so she worked around it. Pride was her sin of choice after all. She wouldn't accept _anything_ less than her admittedly high standards.

She had found that in this life, some spells would be useful and some would not be -the truly useless spells were never remembered in the first place. Scorgify was going to see heavy use. She was something of a clean freak although she had allowed her standards to relax more in this life. Some things still just set her off however. There was a reason that she had learned/mastered that spell wandlessly at twelve in this life and would use that spell again. She liked being clean, although nothing beat the feel of an actual bath or shower. A long dip in the ocean also counted, although she'd sponge off with clean water and change once she was able to.

Snape's sectumsempra could potentially see some heavy usage along with a few of his other spells –the man had her undying respect for his creations if not as a person. Snape to put it simply was an over-compensating, highly competent wizard of astounding ability -and an ass.

Other spells were useful, but she just had to be creative in the usage of them or be able to tweak the spell so that she wasn't flashing colorful lights all over the place. She had been working on that in her past life anyways, along with the mental magicks so all that was required was remembering for a number of them. It was fortunate that she was creative and had the ability and knowledge to tweak the spells included in the reincarnation ritual. Fortune favors the bold, after all and damn if that ritual wasn't audacious as hell. Now if only she hadn't wandered off into a place that from what she could tell, hadn't been touched by magic before… a wand would make things really easy for her.

Some spells wouldn't be used at all. Really, how can turning a beetle into a button be useful in any situation? She would admit that she had heard some interesting things about the Grand Line so it wasn't beyond possible that it could be useful but it was pretty unlikely.

Now she was attempting to do get that same surgical precision and beyond with her haki which was as difficult as she remembered learning and found relearning wandless magic was. She had had years of practice with magic in this life and the next. It could be put off for a while.

Her haki? Not so much. She had 'good' observational haki that was _always_ functioning –even if she didn't want it to. It was always there unless if she was ignoring it at times to focus on something else that demanded her full attention. It was something to work on so that she didn't get caught off guard later. She now at least knew of the other 'types' of haki too.

She was thankful the goddess of literature and learning, better known as Hermione, for finding and explaining and teaching her occulmency before her third year. Lockheart while useless as a teacher had at least given them an all-access pass to the restricted section of the library. That helped immensely in shortening the learning process of everything she focused on.

She was also thankful for her cousin's discarded comics and the sorting hat to tell her that 'mind reading' was possible -and the very idea was _terrifying_ to some small instinctual female part of her made even more so from the fact that her parents who had been a part of this magical world for years and knew how to protect themselves had been killed by evil magic –even as a first-year she had never quite been oblivious to the darker aspects and how they could potentially be used against her.

There was a reason other than shyness she hadn't met any adult's eyes that year if she could help it. If she had to she was thinking of a catchy song –not wizarding ones if she could help it- or some assignment or history class with Binns. Occulmency's counterpart was learned later in life.

In her past life she had probably beat all those that she knew of that routinely used the _subtle_ mind magics from years of experience alone -barring Dumbledore- even though it made her hypocritical in the very usage of it. Even when it was used for statue of secrecy purposes. Although she had no comparisons for those who could were dead and she didn't want to test to see if she beat Voldemort in mental skill. Who and where would she find someone that she wanted to possess? She liked who she had been born as even though the fame and labels were trying. Why would she torture someone to the point that they were begging for death? She hadn't found anyone who had upset her to that point although some of the press over the years had come close.

Instead she raided a _retired_ marine's head who had been on the Grand Line for some knowledge of how out-classed she'd be in the dangerous world that she lived in. He might have been approaching senility but that didn't make the knowledge gained any less valuable –it just made it easier to obtain. That knowledge gave her more questions than answers except that she had to improve –a lot more. In several areas. She had also picked up other useful information from that retired marine's mind –such as how to use a sword –specifically a katana, navigation in the Grand Line, various military procedures and other useful but miscellaneous information.

The guy wasn't exceptional in any way and had retired to East Blue. He was actually distressingly normal. His strength, grace or speed but he did have the style memorized down to his bones even though he wasn't a swordsman at heart and lacked a swordsman's resolve which would have made his mind much harder to 'read.' She thought it would dishonor that illicitly gained knowledge for her to not learn it was well as he had, although that presented a minor problem. She had never been fond of rote training and instead thought about how best to make it fun or a competition. Once that was handled then she'd excel at whatever she needed to do.

Hermione had found that out for her.

Hermione was the most awesome best friend ever.

She was dearly missed.

Her attempts at making a wand weren't going well either. Finding out which mediums worked best for her soul that 'remembered' was a lot more difficult –hence her practice with various wooden swords at the moment even though she had some steel blades in her ship.

She couldn't rely on magic and war taught her to not rely on miracles. Considering how insane this world had gotten at various times –reading a few history books and a lot of between the line reading and some reasonable assumptions only proved that the entire world going insane wasn't just a one-time phenomenon which was scary to think about. It had added to her confusion of the world. There were multiple reasons that she suffered massive amounts of confusion on how many things matched in her past life and in this one and all the things that didn't as well. This extended into the history, laws and the philosophy behind the powers that be Government in this world. Which might be even before she actively remembered her past life why she had all those reference books and many others that she had read so now she knew this world better. She chalked up a lot of the overt similarities to the belief of connected human consciousness as there was no Julius Caesar to make the Julian calendar that the world ran on –even the days of the week matched and February was twenty-eight or nine days long depending if it was leap year or not.

All this background knowledge and confusion led to one conclusion -she didn't want to stand out enough with magic to make herself a target for being unique. So she was stuck with subtle wandless magic that could possibly be written off as haki once she knew how to and swords.

The blades she had were made in the Damascus style so they were good but they weren't any of the named swords by any means –these she had actually bought in Goa. Sword shopping made her miss her old Toledo-steel sword-cane that she favored once she was older in her past life as well. The wooden sheath was enchanted and the blade itself was enchanted. They both drew on the ambient magical energy given off by a magical person. The wooden sheath wasn't holly though. Holly wasn't a magical match to her anymore or neither was the holly wood in this world. _They felt different._

She knew why.

Her morals had taken a turn from when she was eleven the first time around –and not for the better as she had aged and they had gotten even worse in this life, although she had developed an honor code however warped it was. Nature had quite a bit to do with the willingness to kill. Nurture had also influenced those once high and proud morals. War had done an even better job of wrecking all the morals necessary to be a nice person. Adjusting back to peace required a reworking of the honor code that got her through the war sane, but it was less of 'fixing' and more of 'warping into irrationality' in some places. Then reincarnating into a world where the 'rules' and the philosophy behind them were different and she lacked a wand this time around –it was getting reworked again. Once she had it all settled out, it would probably be twisted at best, highly irrational at worst and all hers. She wouldn't change it.

Then again Aki thought as she reflected over her past life, she had never ever truly been a saint. She was a good person and friend. Not nice. Polite yes, but not nice –especially when she was dealing with politics. She wasn't someone that you pointed out as a figure of nobility, chivalry and high morals –if you were a friend or knew her very well. She knew what her chocolate frog card said and was highly embarrassed each time someone brought it up or wanted her to sign them. Hell, she had taught at Hogwarts for years –some of those brats had written about her and the influence she had on 'modern' magical culture. She had dreaded the history's professor's –not Binns- assignment to firsties of 'write a foot on a historical witch or wizard who has influenced our society with their accomplishments, inventions or creations.'

She had worked on reformation of magical society and politics on her less busy days because apparently women weren't as honorable and trustworthy as men or they represented their husband if they were married –which might explain why the majority of witches in positions of power were widows, spinsters or old maids. That was why they were typically restricted to the less powerful or influential jobs -if they had them at all- when the Pureblood extremists had had full control.

She wasn't a saint or a timid housewife or a golden girl or one to take the high road that never seemed to get anything done. She wasn't that big of an optimist by any means. Blackmail, bribery, charm, cunning, force, guile and well placed threats during her time as a politician had proved that. Dear Dumbles would have never even considered doing half the things she did –which was why he never actually got anything important done but block the worst of the bigotry and sometimes he didn't even do that as he didn't even realize what allowing this or that would do or could be used to do. Secrecy spells and anonymity came in handy for covering up any mishaps. It wasn't paranoia –exactly…

Thankfully she was careful enough to have never been caught in anything major while in politics, so everyone bought her what few lies she had to tell with happy dances tossed in liberally from everyone important. So after a long teaching stint, a shorter but highly successful full-time political career she had retired to the DoM –a move that was once again celebrated.

Of course, most of those handy spells were beyond her -at the moment. The notice-me-not had gotten far more practice than the disillusionment –mostly because she had yet to re-engineer it so that it didn't require a wand or could be activated by a runic script. A finger or two could often be used as a substitute in most wand spells, but not in the disillusionment charm. Using a runic script to invoke it was harder.

Anything representing a concept could technically be a runic script, but only several were useful. A circle was often used to define an area and other shapes did so as well. The English alphabet couldn't be used as one, but Egyptian hieroglyphics and any other more pictorial (and complicated) written languages could be. The main problem with each of these languages was that they _were limited_. You wouldn't find a representation of 'snow' in hieroglyphics. Experimenting with runic scripts was _not fun_ as the 'substance' of each 'runic spell' differed based on the 'script' which was already limited.

An example would be the concept behind the warming charm. In one script the runes encompassed the concept of 'warmth within this area' and you would be as warm as if you had cast the charm with a wand. A different script where the characters held a slightly different meaning could have the effect of setting yourself on fire as the character meant both 'fire' and 'warmth.'

Then this was further complicated as extending a line here, or increasing the slant or anything else could subtlety change the meaning. So that warming charm at a significant slant left? You wouldn't be warm, but you wouldn't feel the cold wind knifing through you. So she was forgiven for not wanting to figure out how to 'disillusion' herself right? As it would be hellishly complicated and involve far more math than she was comfortable with as she would have to bend light around herself and still me able to see or find a way to maneuver while blind because she wasn't too sure on the limits of haki at the moment. She really should have looked more seriously at the theory behind that spell so that she could find an easier way to pull it off as this was not only doable but eliminated all but the barest of shimmers –in theory. Ah, well, she'd work it out eventually.

Aki let her mind wander as she trained, occasionally switching hands. As she practiced and cataloged how she was doing, making minute adjustments to her stance to get it form perfect, and breathed.

She wondered how much the men had been paid to kill her had gotten and she wondered how closely her will was adhered to and carried out. Some people were probably pissed about that. She really was a Slytherin at heart once she got older. She didn't need a hat to point that out. People also often forgot that she was a second generation Marauder -in that life anyway. In this one, she was the daughter of a pirate. It amounted to the same thing but a marauding pirate was far more deadly than a group of schoolboy pranksters could ever be unless they cast the killing curse. Swords were handy objects for blocking magic like that and if they were well made then they could take several such curses.

The spell tweaking was something that was sorely needed, as otherwise when she was using any of the bone-breaker curses she would throw off yellow lights and make it obvious about what was going on to anyone with or without a brain. Flashing yellow lights was more than a little obvious and easily dodged in a world where people could and _would_ be faster than bullets –even though they were the round ball type that were far slower than any firearm that she had access to in her past life- so she had to work more on her speed and reflexes –_again_. Maybe she could con Sabo and Ace into setting up an island long obstacle course to run through? She mused slightly on how best to sell it to them as she let her mind continue to wander as she trained.

Of course, just because the spell was more or less useless in the magical world didn't mean it was worthless entirely worthless here. Although some of the things she learned as a witch had no use here, such as the purely magical parts of potions. The lessons of potion-making had other effects such as making her a very good brewer of moonshine and how to hide certain flavors behind others which had the benefit of concealing poisons –although some of the antidotes that she had learned to make weren't possible here either. Bugging Abeforth for his Fire Whiskey recipe after the war was a stroke of genius on her part. Abe's recipe was better than Ogen's in her opinion. Next year, she'd further tweak that recipe and see if she can't enhance the fireball! That recipe was more on the side of alchemy, something in which she had never progressed in much beyond the basics than it was for potions. She wasn't that methodical.

Others lessons learned in that past life were far more useful such as learning how to navigate by starlight. She was grateful that Hermione had discovered her distaste for flying_ after_ Hermione had clued her in on how important astronomy could be. They had even planned to have a witch style cross country fly on brooms –like muggle cross country road trips, as their half-blood dorm mate Fay Dunbar said- and so needed to know how to navigate by stars since they'd have to get from one place to another and they couldn't use roads unless they wanted to break the statue of secrecy. That and they eventually did so –even if not as enjoyable or pleasant as the one they had planned with girlish giggles when they were eleven.

Thanks to having 'limited roaming rights' which translated into –'don't sail out of East Blue or Mommy will hurt you'- she was away from the boys and traveling. This allowed her to freely practice with her magic and her haki once out of civilization that she cared about. Nature wasn't too happy with her at the moment.

Sabo hadn't activated his haki yet although he was showing signs of doing so soon now that she knew of the signs to look for –the retired marine knew that much but not more than the basics beyond that as he never had it so he didn't know how to use it- and Luffy was such a clueless dolt that he'd eventually end up doing so by accident some day and not know how to use or train with it until someone clued him in.

Recently the spars between her and Ace had spars got downright vicious once they started using it regularly –after they figured out how to use it through a process called trial and error with some momentous errors at times. The mountain that they had once sparred upon was one that didn't exist anymore but not because of them directly. She was never letting Ace babysit her sister again. She was very grateful that everyone thought it was an earthquake and not caused by a massive underground explosion. It still boggled the mind, like how Ryoko was able to fight in those heels.

It had only been a few weeks after she created the persona of Valentine and she was thinking about making another one but as a swordswoman so it would be more true to herself. A bit of fact-twisting, some emphasis on some of her quirks and a slight change of appearance and the image would be set. An image was a good thing. People sucked at remembering reality as they often couldn't deal with it. This persona was one that she'd be able to hide in plain sight with as she was damn good with just about any blade except that of a standard katana, which is what she was fixing with all this training now –and maybe some living practice dummies.

Katana didn't have the right weight for her! It was also damn hard to find a superb saber like her father's in such peaceful waters so she had to make do with other swords that were good steel but not something to celebrate over. There were other swords that she had practiced with until she was satisfied with her level of ability with each and every one. Her technical ability with all the forms and such, she should clarify. Her fighting ability with each and every one was astronomically higher in this life compared to her past life and so the thing she had to practice most with was against other people to get used to the difference which wouldn't take all that long once she got the hang of it again –she had loved the come-and-go room for a damn good reason.

There were times she really wanted to have Gryffindor's sword again however annoying the overly ornate handle made wielding. That sword wasn't of the katana style but she had been accustomed to its goblin steel weight –that is to say, heavy as hell. Oh, and the poison the blade had absorbed had nothing to do with it either. She was more than a little immune to that stuff and numerous other poisons, although she was more than a little pissed at the cost of that immunity.

She did however make an appropriately balanced wooden katana for her to at least practice with until she was able to find someone to make a half decent katana of that weight for her. So what if it was more of a hollow wooden sword filled with balanced weights making it several times heavier than the actual katana would be? A bit of discrete runic magic use made it even heavier for training purposes. There were large carnivorous beasts that were lighter than that wooden blade that had been magicked to never break. She was pretty sure that the never break should be revised to harder than most everything and ridiculously hard to break. It was not impossible for it to break, just very, very unlikely.

There was a big difference between magic and haki. Magic worked with the implausible and inexplicable. Haki had some rather loose rules that it worked within and the information gained from that marine's mind told him that a number of those weren't common every person knows this kind of knowledge.

Magic had the tendency to effect the environment first and the wielder last physically anyway –hence why most magicals had some minor bit of insanity which could and usually did translate into an obsession like the quidditch fanatics, or a love of dangerous animals. She fell into the last category. There was a reason that she was the only student that was part of Hagrid's NEWT class. However, due to a somewhat constant emission of magic to some degree or another –what did people think Veela's auras were? - the environment, surroundings or favored objects that never left the owner's side were affected first –otherwise magicals would look to be in their pre-teens once they reached majority at seventeen instead of just living 'longer.'

So if a magical thought that some object brought him or her luck and wore it would often be more 'lucky.' Objects made magical through the 'magic of belief' weren't all that effective usually but they did acquire some… quirks as time passed particularly if they had been enchanted or charmed directly and then believed to be so even if the charms weren't the same. It was part of the reason why magic and technology didn't mix all that well unless you were muggle-born or raised –technology relied on science and science relied on repeatable results, observations from those result and so on. This meant that a muggleborn at least understood the concept of current flowing through the wires to turn on a light. Ambient magic reinforced that. A pureblood only understood that if you flicked this switch the light would go on or off -maybe. Circuitry was not needed once the switch and light bulb were exposed to enough ambient magic and belief.

Haki did the reverse in several ways. It first affected the body, allowing it to surpass human limitations with progressive ease as the user grew better with it. From what she could tell, she was as human as she ever was. So the superhuman strength and durability that she now possessed in this life? Haki was reinforcing the body to far beyond human limitations at an unconscious level. The body then affected the environment in those that were only able to use it. Those that have mastered it only had to do what the guy who had saved those from Gray Terminal did and impose their will upon the world –although she had found that took a special type of haki that people had to be born with.

Only those with the potential to consciously control and thus master, haki could consciously affect and sense beyond the body's senses and into the environment which took a strong mind. There was subconscious usage in a lot of people, but not conscious in all of those. It was difficult, but she found it easiest if she managed to relax during something where relaxing was likely to kill you. It was difficult, but she knew how to reach such a state and she wasn't all that afraid of dying. She knew what happened then after all.

The relaxation approach worked for her despite however backwards the logic was. She knew that she had driven Hermione half-mad with her logic in that past life. Luna, her darling moon, had loved it. Then again, that girl was beyond normal ken. She had caused all three boys in this life a lot of grief with it too! She was rather sure she was more than a bit mean to them at times and that she had took advantage over their naivety or innocence for her own personal use a few too many times as well. She liked her logic. It hadn't let her down yet!

She ignored the tiny voice of conscious which sounded suspiciously like a cat animagus that once taught her and her parents. It was ignored with practiced ease. She was a good girl until you pissed her off and that's when she became an utter nightmare to deal with as everyone had found out.

The third type of haki, the haki she had learned you had to be born with was rather annoying for her. She'd have to use occulmency to self-hypnotize that ability out into the open so that she could consistently use it or not. Her father had it –from Luffy's telling of what happened there was no doubt- so there was a damn good chance that her sister would too. She had it. She could use it –sometimes. Ace knew that she had subdued more than a few 'pets' that way. That was why she was going to work some more with it and occulmency. She just didn't want to use it unless she _had_ to and she didn't want to work with that for a while yet. There were other things up higher on her to do list than mastering that haki.

In fact if she truly wanted to think about it, in her past life she knew of three people that had it. Voldemort, Dumbledore and her. Somehow she found the idea of controlling people with for lack of better word, _charisma _more heinous than direct mental assault and magic.

She was a politician in her last life. She knew how _dangerous_ imposing ideals and will unto others was. When you added in the fact that it could be imposed onto the world at large? Then toss in some magic? Subtlety? Control all the relevant information, say the right words in the right manner? That held promise and terror for any who stood in her way. She even had a few ideas on how to train with it –though that would make people and events gravitate towards her. That could be done later though. Like when she was testing if that 'Master of Death' title carried over and allowed her to do _more._

Both magic and haki required large amounts of time devoted to each. Magic for the learning and mastering of and haki for the learning and mastering of –if you even could with them both. Magic you had to be born with like that special type of haki –haki was something that was learned through years of effort should a person be strong and dedicated enough to learn it.

Similar principles, but the two weren't all that compatible or easy to deal with. Magic was more academically inclined and haki was for the athletically inclined. She was currently working on the switching speed in-between each of the energies and using the magically sharpened, absurdly heavy wooden sword.

She had to be able to defend herself somehow beyond her gun for if she was caught away from her actual steel swords –and a wooden sword had comical value. Her mom's first rule beyond never be weaponless was have a long range weapon and have a short range weapon. The blade could actually _cut_ things so it was an absurdly heavy cutting instrument instead of an absurdly heavy bludgeon. That was not to say that it couldn't be used as a bludgeon though as the week she was in Lougetown proved. That guy was not going to be able to walk for a while. A cracked pelvis and smashed balls had further neutered him. Being pretty had consequences. Being stupid had painful consequences.

Considering that as she was thinking she was also working with variants of the cutting curse, haki and then pure human skill with a blade and all within a second –an observer should feel pity for the targeted tree as she then did it again, and again, and again.

She frowned.

That wasn't as fast as she wanted it even though it was form perfect.

She'd have to repeat this set again and with her off hand as well. No reason to not use that ambidextrous skill that she had picked up with her memories of her past life.

Her observer did not feel the slightest bit of pity to the tree she had steadily been reducing down to toothpick sized splinters from twenty feet away.

"Can you teach me that?"

"Eh? Who are you? Don't bother me now. I'm busy."

Another thing was placed on her priority to-do list. Master what they had called the observing haki to a level she and her past life's paranoia were happy with. That would take some doing and sense deprivation training for sure. Maybe while doing the obstacle course that she knew she was going to con the boys into building? The next priority was next was determining how and if magic and haki could be mixed. After that was developing the proper techniques with it. Like seeing how legilimency would work with haki –if magic and haki could even work together.

Daydreaming about those techniques she mused about what they would be like, as she switched hands and worked through an exercise and finished that particular exercise with her other hand. Then she cooled down from her practice since her observer was still there.

She figured that these would most likely be uber-powerful strikes, ridiculous area of effect devastation or miraculous healing techniques. All of which would break a number of laws of physics –which magic was best at anyway. Magic broke any and all principals of chemistry was built upon with the simplest transfigurations after all. Upon learning physics and chemistry later in life she wondered how no one had destroyed Hogwarts yet since there were massive amounts of energy being converted into mass and what not. Talking and thinking about magic-physics and the 'natural laws' that magic broke without consequence had always been interesting.

"So who are you?" Aki asked.

"I'm Kuina. Would you teach me how to do that?"

"Why should I do that?" She asked propping her wooden blade over her shoulder. The little girl was apparently and seemed pretty strong –not as strong as herself or Ace or Sabo- but her haki told her that lacked confidence for some reason. She wondered why, but it wasn't her problem like it wasn't useful to know that this Kuina-girl preferred stir-fry.

"Because! I want to prove that women can be great with a sword as well! You're not that much older than I am but you're really strong! Teach me so that I can be the greatest swordman in the world!"

That was a big dream for such a small girl. Aki herself didn't have many dreams in that sense; most of what she worked towards were goals or whims.

"You're like eleven, that still more than a few years between us." One of the advantages of wearing her more masculine clothes and her hair pulled up high in just the right manner –it added to her apparent age. "Besides, who the hell is the idiot who said that women can't be great swordsmen?"

Gender discrimination was one of the easiest routes to setting off her temper. If it was at home, then that would explain the hidden but crippling insecurity of her confidence. If it was at the dojo or where ever she had learned to fight from -well, she'd just kick their ass. Her logic was perfectly sound.

"I'M THIRTEEN!" She answered back before calming back down. "Well, then why don't you explain why there aren't any great women swordsmen?"

"Well, it's obvious birdbrain. They don't want it enough." Aki explained.

Because as she had found in both lives that sometimes things were really just that simple and that damn complex.

"Don't want it enough?" The girl Kuina replied, as if was a completely foreign concept to her.

"Yeah. To be the best takes the sacrifice of time and all things that can be cultivated from time otherwise well-spent and long hours upon hours of effort. It often requires not caring about your looks, working twice as hard as men for their strength and giving up all the dreams that are considered womanly –such as finding love, marrying and having kids."

"I never wanted any of those things anyway." The girl muttered.

Aki thought that the girl was being an idiot –raising Teddy was a joy however frustrating at times- and thus boring. That also meant that she was a waste of her time. Selfish people were infinitely more interesting than selfless people. Selfless people tended to get used, abused and die without acknowledgment unless they were powerful. She could name a number of people that were like that who had died and weren't remembered –unlike Dumbledore. She blinked. She had turned into a cynic. Joy.

People who were both selfish and selfless at the same time were truly interesting, complex and likely to be a few bricks shy of a load. Life was more fun with those kinds of people around. There was a reason that Hermione had introduced her to her parents as 'my crazy best friend.'

"You're thinking like a guy –which is boring and wrong for you. Denying what you are is denying a part of you," She privately admitted that Hermione and others had trained her well in the way of feminism, "which limits how a true swordsman fights. Not just with his or her blade but with their entire heart and soul. When two true swordsmen truly fight, they can feel each other's soul and emotions with every clash of their blades."

If they both have haki and were using it, which is something she left out. Aki then had to ask. "Now isn't it late out for a girl to be wandering around?"

"You're a girl too!"

"I'm older! It's practically an unwritten rule that I'm out late at night!"

That and despite her night-owl tendencies, she had long ago in her past life learned to thrive on less than three or four hours a night and wake up bright and eager –at false dawn. She didn't need the sun to rise over the horizon to wake. She was also fond of afternoon naps because of this -to the detriment of many others. Not that many people could tell when she was sleeping and when she wasn't nowadays and she had sharp reflexes. She had actually trained herself to respond to wake up instantly to a few voices speaking to her –haki was involved in there somehow but the exact mechanics were beyond her for the moment.

"That doesn't make any sense!" The sword-girl yelled.

What she had said made perfect sense to her, Aki thought.

"Do you even have a place to stay?" Kuina asked.

"The weather's nice and then temperature is fine. I was going to sleep outside or on my ship." Aki replied with a dismissive shrug.

However the last was rather unappealing even in comparison to the ground. Her ship was a little more than a fishing boat with a sail and some shade to keep the sun off of her and her supplies. No creature comforts at all. It was East Blue –most islands were just a day or two of sailing from each other provided you could navigate and had decent charts. This particular island she was on now was less than a day away from Goa. The short travel time didn't make it any less uncomfortable. She had yet to get the cushioning charm wandless –much less the permanent variety figured out. She had needed to work out the numbers of that charm so that she could figure out something like it in a usable runic way. In the meantime, the ground would be more comfortable.

The cushioning charm wasn't going onto the priority list though. It was rather high up on her personal to do list. Ace had called her a hedonist before but she wasn't going to fight him about that. It was true to a point. She could do without, but she'd rather not.

"Then, you're coming with me. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"It'd be rude to decline your invitation. Lead the way birdbrain." She was a rather entertaining sword-girl now that she had shocked some sense into her. It would be interesting to see her soul sour and fly one day.

* * *

"Who's this lady?" Zoro asked his rival as she dragged him into the dojo.

It was hard to miss her. She had flame like hair that was messily tied back in a high ponytail as if she didn't care about it, and was wearing a long sleeved dark red shirt that didn't seem to fit right somehow like it was a guy's shirt and dark pants. He guessed that those awesome boots were hers at the dojo entrance.

"She's a really awesome swordsman! She was able to cut a tree into pieces without touching it! She leveled a forest with her training!"

"She doesn't look that much older than you. If she's really that awesome with a blade then she'll be able to beat your dad and you right?" The child with green hair asked her, as they both ignored the dojo chatter.

The other students were weak, pathetic and useless. Koshiro who was Kuina's dad and his sensei however had told him not to be that blunt, so Zoro stayed silent about his opinions about them which seemed to work out well enough.

They finally reached the dojo reserved for exhibition fights between students and visiting masters. They had to fight the crowd to do so. Kuina's father and the red head who was dressed in red settled into their stances. Kuina's sword style against another that he had seen before. He didn't remember the name of it. His nose itched.

Zoro sneezed. That sneeze had caused him to miss the fight, although the clashing of wooden blades rang in his ears and one had impaled the wall.

The master had been defeated!

He didn't even see the fight.

He still had a lot of improving to do.

"That's, that's not an ordinary practice sword." The master admitted as he regained his breath from his position on the floor.

"Oh, that's because it's weighted." She explained carelessly. She seemed so cheerful and carefree, although he knew that she was a serious swordsman now. She wouldn't have been able to beat Koshiro if she wasn't. "My apologies for not using the ones you had provided for our spar. I'm not accustomed to holding back with bare steel and most practice swords I find to be too light for me to use with any sense of grace."

Unlike Kuina she was also perfectly happy being a female swordsman if he went by attitude alone. He wondered what made such a difference between the two. She sure didn't seem like someone who spent a lot of time in the dojo –although her movements were graceful and economical. Neither did he, but Kuina had dragged him from his training this morning to see this. And then he sneezed.

"May I see it?" His sensei asked once he was standing upright again.

"Sure." With absurdly proper dojo etiquette for passing on a blade complete the wooden sword was passed over. Koshiro fell on his face the instant after he was the only one that was holding up the blade.

That had to be a really heavy blade, Zoro thought and she had at least spent some time in a dojo to learn that sort of blade etiquette or been taught it from someone else and practiced it.

"As expected of someone of that..." Zoro heard his sensei mumble from the ground.

"It's not that heavy." She declared as she squatted down and easily picked the practice blade up and even twirled it around using the hilt in her hand over her head before letting it rest on her shoulder. "Surely such a strong guy such as you can lift that." She declared as she left it on the dojo floor.

She looked at Koshiro for a few moments before she rose and put her hands on her hips before speaking again in an inquiring tone.

"I've been thinking about upping the weight in it again, but I haven't been able to find the materials to do so and keep the size and shape. It's rather aggravating. Do you know where I could find some?"

"You won against father! I knew you were strong!" Zoro watched his rival declare.

"Your father said something sexist about women being weak, so I taught him a lesson! Sad, ain't it that someone that could be from there can't even bear the weight of a woman's favored training blade (1). Dahahaha!"

Zoro frowned as he was missing something there. He just didn't know what. He was sure that a number of the other students missed whatever it was too. A few let out some shocked gasps, so he'd have to hunt them down to make them explain it.

"IT'S A WOODEN BLADE!" Sounded the cry of the observing students.

"My favored practice blade, my real ones are on my ship." With an evil smirk she lifted her wooden blade up again like it was no effort at all. She really was strong.

"I didn't agree to using real steel because I don't want to kill a man just because he can't realize that a person's gender doesn't matter when it comes to strength. It's their skills, their determination and their dream! Strength is only earned through sacrifice and understanding your limits and surpassing them! Keep only what you need, find your limits and surpass them daily! Watch, observe and learn daily the lessons that others impart on you without realizing it!"

Zoro found that it seemed that even a carefree person could be strong and wise. She also seemed far too energetic, although she could be one of those morning people that he had heard about. He wasn't one of them.

"Words of wisdom from such a strong person...-!"

"We're so blessed."

"If you manage to do that, then you don't fall on your face in front of all your students. Dahahahaha!"

After her brief laugh she had calmed and seemed to become a serious swordsman. He noted that she had no problem with the heavy blade at all in either hand. He paid attention to what she was saying, as it had to be important.

"Lack of attention to my footwork fell you, like it can anyone else. Everything, no matter how small it is, is important. So fight for it! Not everyone else will. Protect what's yours with all of your strength! Ever last bit of your body's strength, your mind's keenness and your soul's desire! That's how to be truly strong!"

Zoro found himself for the second time admiring a woman's strength. He also found himself taking those words to heart –for even though he was a kid- he knew that she spoke the truth.

Also, unlike Kuina she actually looked and acted more like a girl. He'd tease her about that and then they'd get into another spar. For now though, he had another swordsman to train to surpass.

* * *

It was only a few hours later –Kuina's dad had quickly sequestered himself and the red-lady visitor for a private talk- that the redhead came upon the two rivals after they had worn each other out with training. She was instantly bombarded with pleas of 'teach me!'

"Sorry, I can't. The best only learn from the best and experience. I'm not anywhere near the best swordsman around as I'm not that much older than the two of you. East Blue at the moment, maybe, but not the world. The greatest swordsman of the world would be Dracule Mihawk, but I'd like to see if I can make him work for a victory... I need more experience, practice, training and a better blade than I have currently. That's a lot of work actually and years away."

Zoro saw her scowl. She would probably train some more. He had seen the forest she had trained in as Kuina had dragged him off to see. She hadn't quite leveled it as much as she took a large number of trees and reduced them to toothpicks and splinters.

They both noticed that she was practicing power as much as she was practicing speed and precision. He and Kuina had discussed it and decided that it was because of her speed and precision was how she had defeated Kuina's dad. They also decided that she had plenty of power in each swing because power was useless unless you hit and speed was useless unless it did some damage.

"You're not going to teach us?" Kuina asked.

"If I run into you guys again I might. I convinced your father Kuina, to give the both of you roaming rights of East Blue once you hit fifteen. He's the green guy's guardian after all, right?" He and Kuina both nodded yes to that.

"After a few years you're free of that as you'll be able to make your own decisions in what you want in pursuit of your dream. How will you guys improve to or know if you've reached the level of the best if you just keep fighting the same people who never improve after all? Without ever experiencing the swordsmen of the world? Once you can beat them all, that's when you become the strongest."

"I see your point." Zoro replied, after he had thought it out. How would they truly know where they measured in swordsmanship and power unless they fought those already known to be strong?

"That does make sense. Will you really teach us if you run into us again?" Kuina asked. Zoro found it amazing that Kuina could be shy.

"Maybe a few things. We three do use different styles after all so I don't know how much help I'll be. If nothing else, I'll agree to a spar."

"Are you also going to try for the title of 'Strongest Swordsman in the World'?" Zoro asked. He wanted to size up the competition if he could.

"Nah. I'm not one for titles like that. Besides, I'd be a really mean person if I robbed a bunch of kids of their dreams." She told him while rubbing his hair. "Your hair is surprisingly soft. I thought it would be more coarse –like grass."

"Hey! Stop doing that! I could beat you!" Zoro told her.

"When you're older -maybe. In the mean time you both could hold onto these bandanas for me." She replied as she tied a dark green one onto his head and a dark purple with some sort of pattern onto Kuina's.

"Huh?"

"Why?"

"Because if I'm looking at the future strongest swordsman in the world, I would want to be intimidated. You two couldn't scare much as you're both far too adorable! Dahahaha!"

Zoro blinked at the absurdity that had just occurred. From when and where had she gotten the two bandanas? Kuina's voice shook him out of his stupor.

"Um, can I ask you a few things in private?"

"Like what can't you say in front of me?" Zoro demanded. He was a swordsman too!

"Girl things!" Zoro found that to be all the incentive he needed to leave and go train. "Fine! I'll go train and get stronger while you two chat!"

* * *

Aki smiled as she watched the girl who was only a few years younger than her –not that she knew that- work up her courage to ask something. She was adorable in the 'I want to cuddle it, but I know she'll bite me and it would be worth it' way.

"Um, say, if I really wanted to go after those girly dreams and still be the greatest -" Kuina started to say.

Aki mused over the fact that the little bird-brain wanted to be that selfish, huh? Did she really have what was needed to do so? It was apparent that she was a genuine tomboy and _thought_ like a guy, so the lack of feminine cunning was expected. Sad, as she quite missed that game and Ryoko was elsewhere. So with a lack of players, that meant opportunities. This meant that she could have fun with the two of them. They were so cute together! She hadn't done something like this in this life...

"So selfish. I like it!" She did. Now to tease the younger girl.

"So he's the kind of guy you like. Silent, sturdy, determined and loyal. He'll probably grow up to be dangerous and cute too! You've got better taste than me."

At least she knew that she had horrible taste in men. It's why she created her high standards and never pursued an actual relationship with any of her lovers -the whole magic thing aside. That and in that life she had a very much an impossible chance of conceiving much less carrying a child to term. The basilisk venom from her second year had ruined that route of happiness. Then again, she really didn't have much time to worry between keeping in shape, Teddy, work, study and play.

"But, he and I!" She protested.

"Earlier when you were fighting your friend, I spoke to your dad about that white sword of his that he had on the wall, among other things like getting you two roaming rights. It's a family heirloom right? So it stays in the family. In order to use it, he'll have to marry in or you'll take it back! It's foolproof! So just don't lose a match to him before you leave to explore the world and he'll have no choice but to take it! Make him eat that masculine pride of his! Just make sure that your father knows so that he can inform him of this before he leaves. You are older than him after all. Right? 'Cause otherwise, I might have to worry about you liking really short guys."

The answering was a nervous nod that turned into a matching grin that spelled Zoro his doom.

* * *

After their training for the day was done, a tired Zoro and Kuina leaned on each other as they walked back to the dojo.

"Have you two been out training all day?" Koshiro asked.

"Yeah." They both admitted tiredly.

"Did the swordswoman help you two with it at all?"

"No." Kuina pouted.

"She said something about us sparing later when we're older."

"Hmm. That so?"

"Yes." Zoro said.

"Did you even get her name? So that you can find her later?" Koshiro asked.

"Why would we need to do that?" Kuina asked.

"She's good and she's going to get better." Zoro added.

"We'll read it in the papers." They both said at the same time.

* * *

A/N; Explanation for how Zoro knows her in chapter 15. Somehow whenever Aki complains or is being rude I keep hearing Rangiku from Bleach's –her Japanese voice. It's odd, but so is Aki. I wonder how many people have caught onto the sub-plot(s)? It's not that important, but as a test...

Yes, I totally made Kuina's father a samurai from Wano or at least descended from one –he'd probably be descended as it would be more vulgar to him for Kuina to act in such a manner unless he was being a patronizing asshole. In Zoro's flashback, there were many dojo he beat. I'm assuming he stayed on the same island as he was like at best eight or so. Proper Japanese in One Piece, tends to come from the Isle of Wano –including but not limited to Japanese gender prejudice. So there was something of a mass migration there or the idea just really caught on with that particular island after he or someone saved it or something. Who knows and who cares?

1. If a woman did bear a blade it was to defend her honor with, and was something more along the lines of an easily hidden knife. Aki here is being _really_ insulting towards Kuina's father by saying that he's too weak to pick up, much less use such a small blade as he can't even pick up the practice blade. He however, understands the point she's making. Even if she was being really rude in doing so. The English equivalent would be giving someone a bloody nose and a knee to the solar plexus, calling whoever was just downed weak and calling their mother a whore before spitting on them and then walking over and away from them. On their face. Yes, that insulting. He at least takes it like a man.

Aki if you can't tell, isn't the nicest lady around. The nicknames given to her by Ace are well deserved. Every single one of them. Shanks also isn't all that nice either once someone stops to think about Shanks beyond the fact that he's awesome, sexy and strong. You don't become one of the FOUR most wanted pirate captains in the OP World; much less manage to rule part of it by being nice.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N; Sabo just doesn't want to get his little arc written how I thought it was going to be. So I let him be and it turned out fine anyway.

This chapter covers three different parts of their childhood. The change of age and time is rather clear –to me.

Ace is 11. Aki is 12. Sabo is 10. Luffy is 7.

Then it its Ace is 13, Aki is 14, Sabo is 13 and Luffy is 10.

After that it is Ace is 15, Aki is 16, Sabo is 15 and Luffy is 13.

**2/1/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 17: Scribblings of Talent

Sabo had always found his pseudo-older sister's/cousin's abilities as something miraculous and even slightly envious of. Not that he wasn't half bad either.

She was smart, strong, kept a cool head in the toughest situations –like when Gray Terminal was burning and they had to escape the city or when other situations that she and Ace had been throwing each other into when they weren't trying to kill each other or had teamed up for some reason.

She was beautiful and dutiful to her siblings –even if all of them weren't actually her siblings. He wasn't exactly sure where he stood there. She and Luffy were blood related but it was to the point that she and Luffy were fourth cousins as it was through her mother's side –her great-grandfather's sister was Garp's mother or something like that and it was odd to look at that shitty old geezer and disturbing to realize that some woman married Garp's father and gave birth to that man. However he and Ace were now the sworn brothers of Luffy so did that make them cousins too?

She had a sense of humor that was usually entertaining unless it was directed at you. Then it got into some weird, obscure knowledge or became just plain traumatic at times. Spiders the size of his head were not harmless, nor should they be allowed to be named Steve. Nor should they be allowed to stay at their place they had built in the woods because her mother wouldn't let her keep it like she hadn't let her keep the raccoon years ago when he seven and still living in Gray Terminal. She really should have told him that she had released Sly into High Town years ago. That wily old raccoon had been causing havoc in High Town for _years_.

She worked with the oddest bits of logic to make sense of the insensible. Occasionally she had worked with him and Ace in stealing from various people, merchants and other traders that stopped into Goa. She kept track of the markets, the various merchant power brokers and a number of strange things that combined with watching the ships, cargo and crew pull in could tell you who has more money and who's faking having it. She preferred pick-pocketing over mugging, but to each their own, or so Sabo thought. At least both he and she both knew how to pick locks and did so routinely although now that he was practically banned from Goa he couldn't practice that skill anymore. Ace would have to pick up the slack.

Above all he envied the fact that she was so free and nice –except when sparring when she had the habit of nearly breaking bones or giving concussions. That was when he envied Luffy for being more or less invincible to blunt-force trauma.

The shitty old geezer's love taps were the exception to Luffy's resistance to blunt-force trauma.

He thought that she was the model for the older sister figure that everyone probably needed at least one time in their lives.

However she wasn't perfect. She was secretive. She also had a _frightening_ temper, and was far too vindictive and casually violent by half most of the time. She was also the only one out of the four of them that preferred something sharp and pointy as a weapon over hand to hand. He preferred the metal pipes that they had although he wasn't too shabby with his fists.

So she wasn't perfect. Not by a long shot.

She got edgy around when scissors were near her hair unless they were in her hand, and really didn't pay enough attention to her hair beyond if it was clean, brushed and out of her way which explained why her bangs were so choppy. She read the newspaper from back to front, and enjoyed the crossword puzzles far too much. Cameras and getting caught doing something illegal were things to be avoided. Oh, and her sense of humor could be trauma inducing. Hell, he was the one traumatized!

The one ability that she had that he envied above all others that she had was her ability to keep, stay and make things clean.

Even when living as the noble he was by virtue of birth, he had seen how hard it was to keep certain things clean and shining like new. Several of the servants had been punished for that and he hadn't liked that or the fact that he was expected to do that same punishment later but harsher since his parents had wanted him to marry into the Goa Kingdom's royal family. He did not even get want to think about the fact that Goa's only royal child –a princess who not only was a spoiled little bitch four years older than him but an ugly rat-faced one- was not only his first cousin, but his third cousin as well. That was too close for his own personal comfort to consider as a wife. Sabo was technically royalty and not just a noble, but he was so far down on the list of inheritors that he was somewhere around the twelfth possible position.

So the one thing he envied most was that she cleaned things and made them seemingly new with effortless ease. It was rather hard to do as he had found out.

He was envious of the fact that he had to give a concentrated effort to keep somewhat clean in their daily activities while she could walk by two beasts wrestling and slinging mud everywhere and not get a bit on her lacy sleeved white dress.

Wait.

Why was Red in a dress today? She only wore dresses if she was working in town or being a 'good' citizen in Goa!

She paused and looked at Luffy and Ace who were covered in filth and sniffed the air. "If you two idiots are done wrestling in bear shit I would suggest that you two need a dip in the river before Dadan even thinks about letting you two in her tub."

"How do you know its bear shit?" Ace asked, pissed as it suddenly occurred to him about what Luffy might have tackled him into while messing around with his powers which had started the playful and brotherly wrestling in what might have been a mud puddle at one time before the bear had used it as a toilet.

Sabo then remembered the size of some of the bears they had hunted in this forest and compared it to the size of the pit Ace and Luffy were wrestling in.

So much for it being _just _a mud puddle. Ugh. Disturbing to think about. Nasty.

"The smell baka! There are also seeds and crap in Luffy's hair and all over you both! Only bears eat that."

Somehow, Sabo wasn't sure how, but Ace had the effect of turning her from a polite and intelligent proper little lady into what was best described as a beastly, savage and rude girl who was just as intelligent.

He was pretty sure that it had to deal with the fact that they were both smart and independent people who had different approaches to life and everything practically.

He and Ace were strictly competitive in the sibling rivalry sense. Who got the most loot, killed the biggest beast, and was stronger and things like that. They were for the most part pretty even. Ace usually won more than he did with anything physically demanding and few other things because of his intense rivalry with Red. Not that Sabo ever made it easy for him either…

Red's and Ace's rivalry was the stuff of legends by comparison. Anything they could argue and fight about they did –except when they grudgingly had to work together and then insults would fly as they fought with an amazing awareness of each other such as when they fought against Garp. Between working at her mother's bar and the Akagami Pirates who had frequented the place for parts of the year and were usually found in varying levels of drunkenness, Red had learned several songs that shall never be sung on island for fear of Makino's wrath, several more songs that were 'kid-friendly' and many more that were just obscene along with a number of creative insults.

There were times Sabo was sure that they were trying to kill each other again. They actually had a set of unwritten and horrendously complicated rules that dictated how they could go about it or so he thought. There were some options they didn't even consider when trying to kill each other. He really didn't understand them at times…

"The smell?" Luffy repeat, sniffing at himself and contorting himself while doing so.

Sabo facepalmed. Luffy was such an idiot.

"Not everyone has a chance to ride around on a bear to smell it!" Ace replied back with heat.

Sabo sighed. What happened to the maturity level? It dropped back to when he and Ace were seven instead of the twelve and eleven year olds that they were.

"Sabo could use a serious bath too! He smells like he hasn't washed in a week!" She replied, pointed at the former noble. Sabo blushed at the true accusation.

Sabo had to wonder for what he knew wasn't even close to the last time, how those Aki and Ace were best friends again? Not that he'd mention it at all, as they were both firmly in denial. They were both liars.

"Sabo hasn't washed in a week!" Luffy confirmed.

"I didn't ask you guys to tell me how long he's been without his skin touching soap! Just that you three need it! So go! Wash!" Red commanded.

Sabo thought that it was only in the interest of not wanting to be covered in shit any longer than needed Ace obeyed without complaint.

Red in the meantime had disappeared from view even though her red hair and white dress were practically beacons in the jungle like Midway Forest –most likely to Dadan's to tell the old bitch that the two boys she was supposedly looking after for Garp and their brother were going to be borrowing her tub again.

* * *

It took a question from Luffy after they had reached the river to wash the worst shit off, to jumpstart the idea that she had a great sense of smell. Sabo felt more than a little ashamed that he hadn't figured something like that out.

"How did Aki-nee-san know you haven't washed for a week Sabo? She's been with Makino-san for the last two weeks."

"She probably guessed. She's a girl. They get all fussy about being clean and not smelling." Ace replied as he scrubbed himself with a handful of sand.

Sabo was just glad that Red wasn't here to hear that. Several scathing lectures about sexist behavior and most likely a concussion would be her retaliation.

He _really_ didn't want to deal with that. Concussions _sucked._

"Now, now Ace, it could just be that time of the month and she's just noticing how much we typically stink." Sabo replied from his perch in a nearby tree as he dripped dried. Luffy had jumped into the water and forgot that he couldn't swim –_again_- so Sabo had to go save him. Now it was Ace's job to save Luffy next. Which could take up to either a week or within the next hour –if that.

Sabo didn't know much about that time of the month except that it was to be feared, and women got all fussy and bitchy about it and everything around them. There was also blood, sex and babies involved somehow, but again he didn't know how. He didn't really want to. It sounded messy and disgusting.

"How would she?" Ace demanded to know.

"I'm not sure." Sabo stated before he offered his observation. "Could be 'cause she's female but she's always avoided Gray Terminal if she could."

"Yeah, she did." Ace admitted after a brief moment to think about it. He was washing his shorts now, Sabo noted. "I think she could track us by smell."

That was an interesting idea there.

It was also disturbing. If it was true.

Counter measures had to be taken then.

"Good excuse, ta take a bath more often. We don't need her to totally trash us the next time we play hide and seek. Her giving us handicaps by wearing white is bad enough." Sabo admitted.

"Yeah, but at least those three crocodiles are helping to keep Luffy from drowning instead of eating him." Ace replied, referring to some of Red's more tame 'pets.'

"He's enjoying himself alright." Sabo said as he was Luffy watching while Ace went under the water to clean his head again once he was finally done cleaning his clothing.

Ace then came back up and washed his face again.

"He's about to get eaten by that python." Sabo pointed out, reminding Ace that he was on Luffy duty.

Red had actually showed him how to tell the difference between constrictors and the venomous biters so he knew the difference. Then she had showed him how to skin and cook the constrictors and set the biting and venomous snakes free –or tried to as they curled around her like dangerous ornaments. She just looked at them rather bored and started petted the massive water mamba with a scowl. Then some of the other snakes started tangling with each other as they wanted to be petted too. Seeing the snakes twine about each other was cool. Once she was done petting the snakes she calmly carried and deposited the mamba into the nearest large water source and the others into the trees.

She was awesome like that.

"Python?" Ace asked. He turned around. "Damnit! Luffy! If you can't beat that then I'm disowning you!"

"I'm only playing with it!" Their little idiot brother of his replied back as he and the python got into a constricting contest. Luffy seemed to be losing.

Sabo remembered Red saying something like she didn't like constrictors because they had issues as they killed things by hugging them to death. Venomous snakes were supposedly a lot more sensible.

"You're supposed to be getting clean!" Ace reminded him.

"I will!" Luffy replied laughingly.

Sabo climbed out of the tree he had been perched in, holding his trusty pipe in a ready to swing stance. The chance of him getting back to Dadan's proper bath tub without getting completely wet beforehand was now far lower. "He's going to get eaten."

"He's such a bungling little brother."

"You've said it." Sabo agreed.

* * *

After the fire of Gray Terminal, Sabo found himself confined to Midway Forest for the most part with the occasional trip to the Fuusha Village.

Some trips to that sleepy little town were better than others, or so the thirteen year old blond found out.

When Red's little sister was born was awesome but scary. He was reminded that Red and her mother were scary. Unlike Luffy who had gotten off injury free he had gotten a nice shiner. Most of the time, Makino's bar was their sanctuary from the world where they all were welcomed. Red was even nice to Ace there. Most of the time, Sabo amended. She still teased them about everything and anything.

Other times they were able to meet some of the more _interesting_ characters of Fuusha Village at Party's Bar. Old lady Shizume was still a lively firecracker of a hag since she was the oldest living person in Fuusha. She was like ninety-two! Ancient! Dylan Ross, was another interesting fellow, who was head over heels for Cecilia who had inherited her mother's vegetable patch along with her half-brother Martin who fished most days. Cecilia looked a lot like Makino but that was because she was the youngest bastard child that they knew of from Makino's uncle. Fuusha's blacksmith, Cliff, often came into the bar for a large late lunch whenever he had worked through his own lunch doing whatever was order. Reba came in quiet often being a widower for over twenty years now and would still often cry into his beer. Other times there were various merchant ship crews that had been dealing with the tiny town for decades, although some of their hands were new. It was a bar after all. What bar didn't have strange patrons? (1)

Then again, they could always go back to Dadan's if they really wanted to. They just preferred their tree-house more than dealing with Dadan and her bitchiness.

That coupled with the fact that having Dadan and Red in the same area for any length of time made it suffocating to stay with for any length of time. Red would cut down her visits even more drastically and that just sucked. Red was the odd one of their group being the only girl and she also had a job and other things to do. So, her still being able to compete evenly with Ace was something impressive.

At first he didn't mind being left behind when Ace and Luffy went to find interesting trash that could be used or being idiots in town. As the time wore on he had begun to feel left out from his brothers. It made him realize that loneliness was its own hell.

Red had always done her own thing, but unlike the other two she noticed that bit of resentment soon after it had shown up.

He guessed that she was assuming it as a problem of boredom –she had dumped a large number of books on him, literally. Sabo learned four things from this.

1. Red had far, far too many books on all sorts of random to useful things.

2. Books hurt when you had several hundred dumped on you. All at once.

3. Red was a fan of hard back books, as they could be used as weapons. The spars between her and Luffy alone only proved that. He'd have to do that one day when he was a really strong pirate!

4. Red's sense of humor was as dubious as it ever was.

The books helped for a bit as they were things to study in order to truly thrive in the Grand Line –and as material for his future book about the world. Yeah, that was far from the last time it had ever happened but in all the other times the amount of books were far less than three-hundred and twenty three.

Red told him that he was limiting himself with only one book about the world and most of the fiction sucked so he should also write novels and short stories. This wasn't a question that was asked or anything like a suggestion. He was told that he would.

Sabo was also informed that apparently it was better to write a small set so that each part of the world got its own book. Doing anything less would be a disservice to the world and himself as a writer. As long as he was alive he could write, even if only inside of his mind.

Her support however, didn't stop the resentment of freedom from burning in the furthest corner of his mind and heart.

He kept it buried and eventually Ace noticed. He and Luffy eventually stopped visiting Goa unless absolutely necessary. Sabo noticed this, mostly because Luffy couldn't keep a secret and was complaining about not being able to dine-and-dash anymore.

In typical brotherly fashion he told them that he hated them and that they shouldn't stop visiting Goa because of him.

They also responded in typical brotherly fashion of beating that sort of sentiment out of his head. He gave as good as he got.

Red who had witnessed the entire event from a high vantage point in the trees had only sighed and looked up towards the sky and asked, "Why am I friends with such troublesome idiots?"

* * *

It was shortly after Garp had tried to give them all the 'talk' that they had the actual 'talk' from the only female in the group that they had close and near constant contact with. Sabo actually wished that it had been Makino to tell them of the mechanics.

Being only_ thirteen_, he was paying a bit more attention to combating his rising blush than to anything in particular that she was saying as she was teasing the both of them throughout the entire 'talk.' It didn't make the information any less accurate or less burned into his mind and Red did have a way of teaching that could even get through to Luffy if she had enough time.

Her talk did explain her mood swings and several other things that he was clueless about to him though.

He finally knew -as much as he wished he didn't- the reasons behind why women were to be avoided during that time of the month or from being pissed off in general. She had given Garp a beating to remember -even if he was only still playing around with them. It didn't stop the fact that Garp had a large bump on his head and a shiner at the end of it.

Upon seeing that her audience was too embarrassed and she was done playing responsible older sibling she flung a few of the more explicit romance novels at them with the command to read them so that if they ever decided to lose their virginity they would know what to do. Sabo remembered that those were her exact words too. As that was a parting shot he had no idea if she was blushing either.

It said something about Red that they were too embarrassed to even begin to be angry at her for that particular comment for several minutes. Ace eventually manage to stutter something before he exploded in a fire of rage and decided to try and hunt her down and make her pay for embarrassing them. Sabo joined him.

It was a proven to be a fruitless endeavor.

Red was the best tracker that they had seen.

She was equally good at hiding those tracks.

Staking out the bar and her home had also proven useless. They ended up working under Makino's supervision for the rest of the day since they were loitering around the bar; they obviously had nothing to do. Being made to wash the lunch and later dishes on top of mopping the floor and cleaning the tables and fetching barrels from storage didn't improve their moods either.

They had eventually returned to find the tree house they had been living in cleaner than they had left it and even more of those porn-novels piled neatly on Sabo's bed which explained where Red went. They had eventually hidden them in plain sight and within the original pile of books that Red had first dumped on him so that they didn't have to explain to Luffy why they had them, if he ever noticed the increase of books in the first place.

For the better part of a month those novels were never spoken of or mentioned. They were hidden within the large amount of books that Red had dumped on him a few years ago with seasonal additions to it.

That state of affairs remained that way until both he and Ace broke down three weeks later and read them after sending Luffy hunting solo. The blush didn't leave their faces for days and caused just about everyone to laugh at them as they discovered the magic of attraction and the curse of puberty.

They then realized that the person they saw as an older sister was a strong passionate female –who was certainly attractive but only when she wasn't making fun of them for being little boys who were closet perverts.

She was the one with porn books. She had to be a pervert!

They pointed this flaw in logic out to her. She _laughed_ at them!

"But you've read all those books too!" They replied.

"I'm a romantic. Those are romance novels. I'm a girl so being a romantic is somewhat expected. So I'm not a pervert like you two!" She defended herself with.

Sabo and Ace were aghast that she had made sense again and won that argument.

How they both hated and loved that odd logic of hers.

Now she'd tease them both. Damn.

"So which was your favorite book? Was it the one where the pirate lady's seduces the Marine Captain or was it the forbidden romance between two rival crew's Captains or what about the romance between the would-be slave and the dashing pirate who rescued her?"

"No-none of those! Just by reading those, I felt my manliness dropping!" Ace protested.

Sabo had the disturbing feeling that Red found Ace's protests as weak and adorable.

Sabo knew that definition of adorable and cute encompassed many things it shouldn't.

Sabo however wasn't as stubborn as Ace though and thought that he had found a way out of the madness and stress –play along with it and think happy thoughts.

It might work. Time to try it.

"I found the romance between the two pirate rivals to be weak as they just used each other for sex and I wanted to just lock them in a room and let them confess instead of having them pussyfoot around each other for half the book and then that way once they were caught they wouldn't have wasted so much time confessing that could have been used for escaping on their own instead of having their crews more or less sacrifice themselves to take out the Marines and leaving them to start over anew after spending the second half of the book adjusting to living on land and having lots and lots of sex."

He amazed himself at how he said that all in one single breath.

"SABO! YOU TRAITOR!" Ace declared.

Sabo found his ears ringing at the volume of the yell.

"I agree blondie. Did you learn anything else from those books?"

Fighting down a blush, as he remembered how explicit some of those books got, Sabo nodded. He probably wouldn't put any of that knowledge to use for years and some of the things were just _disgusting_ to even contemplate. Why would people ever do that? Putting fingers, tongues and mouth and using them like that! Even if he was disgusted with the idea, it took root in his mind. What would it feel like? (2)

"See! He'll make some girl very happy one day! Why can't you do that?" She asked Ace as she pulled the dark haired boy close and messed up his hair.

'_Wait. What_?' Sabo thought. '_Red and Ace? Together? Intimately_?'

Sabo considered the thought and it was banished into the depths of his mind, where it festered. As they were, they'd kill each other in less than a week.

"Why the hell are you even thinking things like that!" Ace asked hotly as he turned back to face her.

"Because you two finally read the books." She replied with a cheerful tone of voice that nonetheless, had the undertone of 'silly boy.'

"WHAT SORT OF LOGIC IS THAT?" Was demanded by Ace.

"Mine." Red declared.

Ace screamed a scream of frustration. Sabo felt like joining him. He didn't though. His brother's voice cracked halfway through. It seemed like the two of them would be fighting again soon as she was laughing at him again.

Damn. How had he become the sane one?

* * *

It was also when he and Ace were fifteen that he had come by enough paper and ink and courage to put to paper the story he had imagined when he was younger. Via Red's family of course. They were supportive that way.

He spent three days and nights writing it. He barely stopped writing it and only did when his hand was cramping to where he couldn't hold the pen anymore. When that happened, he took care of his basic needs like eating, taking a bath and other bodily necessities –except for sleep. Sleep was skipped.

He read it over. One time, twice more, thrice more. He looked at the ink scrawled across the first few pages and it grew progressively neater and neater as he got further into practice with his letters. It was actually scary to consider that he was the most educated person who lived in the wilderness of Dawn Island.

The manuscript sucked and rereading did improve it. If anything, it made the errors more obvious –he had half-forgotten a few of those old grammar lessons and it showed from the areas that he had marked a line through and rewritten.

Damn.

Getting a second opinion from his brothers didn't help either as Ace usually stuck to machinery manuals and the newspaper for his reading and Luffy knew how to read but he didn't like to.

That meant that he had to ask Red for her for help as they only maintained the loosest of ties with Dadan and her group of bandits –mostly for the bathtub before they had gotten their own and bits of masculine advice now that they were older, not that it was worth much as none of them were anything a girl would look as other than minions and so it didn't apply.

Most of Garp's advice was ignored. None of them wanted to be Marines after all.

Red was the only one who liked the crazy monster that was known as Garp.

It made him question her sanity more than her usual crazy logic did. She held the same training philosophy as that man. If it wasn't likely to kill you then it wasn't proper training. That's why she had convinced and helped them build a huge obstacle course, complete with traps. After five times of running through that death trap, she started to do it blindfolded. Then she had them change it up so that she could do it again.

Ace who was not one to be out done also followed her lead. He somehow ended up more injured than her. That rivalry had slowly tempered down, but they were still highly competitive. Having actually read a couple of those novels she had dumped on him all those years ago, Sabo was pretty sure that they were suffering from unresolved sexual tension. They were still best friends that routinely tried to kill each other, but something had shifted between them recently and Sabo didn't feel like risking his health by asking exactly what was going on between them.

He was also beginning to believe the while Garp was a monster, she was a demon.

They had built another tree house after Gray Terminal and the surrounding area which had included their old tree house was burned after all. They usually stayed there for weeks at a time as just the three of them with Red visiting for sometimes hours or only days at a time. The second tree house was not only much roomier, but better built. The roof didn't leak in the second tree house, and the three boys had more than one room.

They didn't live with Dadan or visit all that often once they knew how to take care of their selves -something he had been doing since he was five.

This line of thinking didn't solve his problems. It still left him with a problem about his rough draft.

The rough draft just didn't feel like something that he should bring to Makino either. Red's little sister was at a stage where she was to be avoided for the sake of _his_ continued sanity and health. Pink –as he had named her so for the unlikely coloring she had- was currently in a dangerous phase. Pink, had a crush the size of the island on him. She wasn't even five yet, so the concept of shame or tact was lost on her.

Red's entire family was scary that way even if they didn't seem so at a surface level. He did remember thinking that Makino was this awesome kind lady when he had first met her and then when he was older he had found out that she had truly been pure evil. This opinion was not influenced in any way because of all the times she had used him or Ace to help around the bar.

Red was much the same on the surface. A nice and good girl, or so she appeared. It lent much more credibility that she was part demon or something if her mom was pure evil. Makino was the only one who could keep Red civil when she didn't want to be and all it took was a glare or a sharp word.

There was a reason that he and Ace listened to Makino and were as polite as they knew how. She was scary if she could keep Red in line.

Thinking about this wasn't solving his problem either.

Taking the draft to Red for her to read over was something that most would see as simple, right? That was something easier said than done when a person wasn't speaking to someone that he would rather not admit that he had fantasized over once he realized that he was attracted to about something that you had poured your heart and soul into. Beyond that, she was in South Blue at the moment.

It just needed a lot of work to truly shine.

He re-read one of the pages.

Looked at the phrases.

A lot of work.

* * *

It still fell flat.

* * *

It took Luffy getting absolutely smashed on some home brewed alcohol on his thirteenth birthday that was provided by Red. The youngest brother ended up passing out like an idiot and the rest of them were more than a little buzzed on wine brought back from South Blue for him to screw up the courage to ask her to look over his manuscript.

Considering he had known Red for _years_, nearly a decade now, he later realized that it was an attempt that was doomed to fail before it could begin.

It was only late afternoon and the sun was setting. He honestly was feeling like a coward for taking so long. So he closed his eyes, took deep calming breaths and opened them to speak to her. The words caught in his throat. He felt any chance of asking her to look it over die a quick and pathetic death.

She was in the river, where the setting sun could play upon her wet skin. That wasn't all that unusual for her as he and his brothers had long decided that she was part fish or something to enjoy swimming that much –especially in crocodile infested waters. She was standing up and letting the water slide off of her. Her hair was loose and plastered to her skin by the weight of the water.

This would be an image would certainly play in those fantasies of his for a while. He hardly even noticed the scars on her arms or elsewhere on her body. Who knew that water was that distracting?

It wasn't the first time he had seen her naked, or near it, as she had crashed at their tree house quiet often and even had a few changes of clothing there. Sabo just happened to have the misfortune of being the one to walk in most often as she was changing. He got a few of his questions answered that way. Wrapping her chest took a while, and Sabo knew this because he had been drafted into helping her do so a few times. It also wasn't like he hadn't seen her in swim suits before either. Some of those tops covered more than others, and she had just lost hers.

There was a reason that _this_ was going to stick in his mind.

Ace quickly pointed out what was wrong from where he had been watching over Luffy who had passed out.

Once he was later sober, Sabo would reflect about how comical Ace's reaction was.

"Why the hell are you swimming naked!"

"I outgrew my last bikini top. It was getting uncomfortable to continue to wear, so I lost it." Red replied with a shrug before crossing her arms –which really did some interesting things to her body and the water clinging to it. Sabo swallowed as his mouth seemed to dry.

There was that bit off odd-logic in play again that would have made him want to scream in frustration if he hadn't learned to go along with it. It made things much easier if you did go along with it. Red's statement explained the top half missing.

That didn't explain the nakedness of the lower half, which proved that Red was a true red head, although that hair was darker than the hair on her head.

So he asked. "Why are not wearing the bottom?"

His slightly slurred response was, "The water feels nicer this way, so I lost it. Wanna join me?"

Ace looked at him for a bit of logic or a reason not to that would make sense to his buzzed mind.

It was a last ditch appeal that was doomed to failure.

Sabo knew that he was still only fifteen.

Sabo also knew that he was also more than a little buzzed.

"I'm not nearly drunk enough to join you in skinny-dipping." Sabo conceded.

Ace then looked at the other bottles of wine they had sunk into the river's sandy shore and the bit of shine left from Luffy's ill-fated binge. All three of them had warned the now thirteen year old boy not to, but he had anyway.

The hangover would serve him right after all.

Ace handed Sabo a bottle and they both drank straight from it and they joined her in swimming in the river's shallows and the water fight after stripping off all their clothing and leaving it on the river shore –although less than an hour later Ace had his shorts stolen from the shore and Sabo's tank joined the stolen clothing as she ran away from them both as she was far less drunk than they.

Conniving, evil wench that she was.

Sabo and Ace shared a look and nodded at each other. The chase was on.

* * *

It was only later after the failed chase, when he and Ace had dragged the passed out rubber boy known now as 'poor idiot' back to their shared tree house that they realized how badly they'd been outclassed and conned.

Luffy had variations of idiot written in bold with various styles and fonts all over. He would later find that he had no idea that there were that many synonyms for idiot. He also noted that Red had very nice handwriting as she had used a variety of styles to write all the words that she knew that meant idiot.

At one point in the chase Sabo had even stopped by her house and the bar to see if her mother or sister knew where Red had gotten off to. This was after she had lost them in the woods. Ace had taken the time to stop by the tree house during the first part of the chase to get a pair of shorts. He at least had modesty and sense enough for that.

Once home, the now only slightly buzzed blond took out his pen and paper again and wrote until sleep took him. When he awoke, he felt reasonably fine even after drinking although the headache was present but ignorable and looked for his drunken scribblings.

He found them and his earlier draft in Red's hand as she was on the porch of the tree house.

Much more damning were drunken scribblings in her hand. He knew what he wrote.

He could tell because those were written in green ink and the others were in blue.

These were probably some of his last moments alive.

He was so very much going to die.

"Your story lacks realism and conflict. Everything is kind of easy. The plot's kind of transparent and lacks detail. Several of the characters have no motivation for what they do and they aren't something a kid could imagine as a real person. They're not human enough. Lack of personality and this one character Meme here has no function except for being cute and filler. Development. Needed. There's no struggle and no pain. Without tasting failure, how could one taste the sweetness of success?"

Proverbs, noted Sabo absentmindedly. She was speaking with proverbs. Proverbs were usually good. It usually meant that she was in a philosophical or playful mood.

He was likely to live if she could use those and was philosophical.

Playful meant he had an extended amount of time until he snuffed it.

It was also constructive criticism, which was good.

He needed that –or would need that if he lived.

His survival chances were looking up.

"Your erotica is first-class stuff. It's really good even though it has no plot at all!" She said that like it was a good thing. She was all cheerful-like and stuff.

The hangover was affecting him more than he thought. He was usually more articulate.

Red smiled at him, as Sabo felt impending doom arise.

"But was there any reason why you, Ace and I have a threesome? Because I _really_ want to know."

That cheerful smile suddenly turned deadly and she looked rather demonic or even devilish as her mood shifted. He had thought that he had understood why Ace called her Kijo so often.

Apparently, he hadn't.

He did now.

Sabo stood there looking at the redhead as he tried to come up with a reason that possibly wouldn't cause her to kill him although he had no idea what that was. Stall! Stall, stall Sabo! Damn hangover! Evil Kijo!

"I-I was, um, struck by inspiration and I, ah, wanted to try to um, write something different before I-I decided to rewrite, no, revise my story."

The feeling of impending doom didn't lessen at all. It got worse.

In fact Sabo was pretty sure that she was using haki to augment the feeling of doom. Seeing as she could consciously and consistently use haki and Ace was about half and half –and not here!- so that didn't improve his chances of survival.

In what felt like hours later, his soul was seemingly judged, and his fate was decided.

Red grinned at him. That grin was not comforting.

It seemed predatory in fact.

Damn.

"I'm really kind of _flattered_ by this and I really want _to kill you_ for this because it's pretty good for completely lacking a plot. I suggest that you run. If I catch you within the next three days you're a dead man. You have five minutes."

The aura suggested less than two.

Sabo grabbed his trusty metal pipe and fled.

She was feeling playful which meant sadistic.

He was doomed. Who knew what new evil tricks she had picked under the world's tutelage?

This was Sabo's first serious foray into writing both his dream book and porn. It would not be his last, but they both would eventually be published and the money spent funding the revolution he would later help lead.

Those that knew Sabo and about his career as a writer of erotica teased him mercilessly over it.

* * *

A/N; I think I like how I've portrayed him –since in manga he has only a few chapters for characterization and then he dies (supposedly). He's shown as determined, bold and rather fearless. He's capable of at least making a plan, strong and I assume of above average intelligence and quite full of himself with a good dose of maturity. This doesn't mean that he knows everything though. He was capable of living in Gray Terminal from the age of five after all and seemed to be quite healthy for taking care of himself for the past five years without any adult help.

However he doesn't seem quite human a.k.a. possessing character flaws so I made him somewhat jealous of the freedom his brothers had because they didn't have to be 'dead' and something of a pervert, clean-freak and insecure about his writing. Writing is a very personal thing and takes a large amount of courage to share –especially when first getting started and you're not sure if it's good or not.

1. All these names aren't really that important. It's just that from Fuusha village we've only got two people who live there full time named. It's a small town, everyone knows everyone, all the gossip and scandals and such.

2. Sabo's a young guy who has been for all intents and purposes cut off from any older male advice –and also all societal bias concerning oral sex –and I'm not just talking about the whole spit or swallow thing. I'm talking about the whole is it disgusting or good idea. He ran away from home so his father's out. Garp is out for being Garp. Dadan and Makino are female. The bandits under Dadan are ignored because Sabo doesn't consider them 'manly' or all that trustworthy either. So Sabo is more than a bit lost on how that feels good or whatever. He'll figure it out, but at the moment he's freaking out over the whole concept of oral sex. Even so, he's a boy in the midst of puberty. He'll experiment. He's much better with the whole scope of sex by fifteen.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N; More Sabo! Sabo's chapters make foreshadowing easy. Besides, certain events will happen similar or sort of like cannon anyway.

**2/6/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 18: Laughing Like Lunatics

Although Ace and all of the future pirates from Goa including him and Luffy, weren't allowed to start their own pirate crews until they were seventeen. They could travel to relatively nearby islands and most of East Blue with and only with Red as long as they behaved reasonably well once they hit fifteen.

The leaving at seventeen was something he had initially decided and something that both Red and Makino agreed with. Somehow, and Sabo wasn't sure how it happened, Red was seen as the most mature and reasonable of them, but she was also the one to most likely to get away with any outlandish behavior. She was responsible like that. Responsible enough to not get caught anyway.

Ace and him were sixteen recently. Him more recently than Ace.

Red was enjoying her own limited freedom too much last year to 'babysit' them as she called it.

Not that she truly paid all that much attention to the whole 'can't sail out of East Blue' rule beyond managing to gain a sea king's cooperation to take her back and forth between South and East Blue. The waters in between the blues were crazy as they were the Calm Belts and the Grand Line. It was a weird bit of geography that the first half of the Grand Line was between North and West Blue. The second half of the Grand Line was between East and South Blue, so she had been in some really crazy waters at times having crazy adventures.

Sabo was of the opinion that it sucked that she was almost a year older than Ace and definitely a year older than he. The baby sitting comment Red had thrown out had started a fight but Sabo had grown used to the fights between Red and Ace.

He had also gotten used to the amount of damage they'd cause in a fight. They didn't know their own strength at times. The reason behind all of the fights? Red was a living incarnation of the word 'tease' in both the sexual sense now that she actually had boobs large enough that they were still noticeable with the bindings on them and in the 'platonic friend' sense.

And Ace was a hot head with a quick temper that was easy to provoke, especially if you insulted his mother, mentioned his father or tried to hurt either him or Luffy –not that Ace had all that much practice at being over protective about him. It was a quick flare-up most times, with the occasional simmering resentment lasting for hours or days or weeks at a time. The point was that Ace's temper ran hot, fast and destructive.

Red's temper by comparison was much harder to provoke. That's not to say that she didn't have her own triggers, but they usually didn't have such noticeable effects unless you targeted a few soft spots of hers like the Police Chief in Goa did. Annoyed, aggravated, irritated and angry were bad enough as she had no problem demonstrating those with violence. Fury, rage and being just simply murderous turned that hot angry temper freezing cold that depending on the severity plotted 'how best to teach a lesson' to 'how best do I destroy this person's life?' Several of the officers resigned and moved far away, a few more had mental breakdowns or committed suicide. The chief himself, well, no one quite knew how the crocodile was able to get into his home, eat parts of him and then leave the city without being seen.

Over the years he had noticed that there was a lack of actual hatred to their intense rivalry, but anger and some resentment was always there but for what and who differed each time they fought. Oh, and they didn't quite care for chivalry in Ace's case and Red had no problem meeting a dirty tactic with an even dirtier tactic. He had to wonder at times why they picked fights with each other so often beyond the spars.

Sabo was tempted to say that picking a fight with each other had become habitual to them.

They were not sailing as pirates, but more as friends just messing around in their youth. That they couldn't set sail as pirates until they were seventeen was one of Makino's rules, which would be obeyed. They could say that they were going to be a pirate, yet they weren't allowed to even say that they _were_ pirates until they were seventeen. Makino was obeyed. She was scary that way. Even Luffy would obey Makino, although he and Ace were sure it was more a case of brainwashing and bribery with Luffy.

They didn't test Makino's rules and she didn't show all the evil lurking under that pretty and nice facade.

Makino had never done more than threaten and make them work at the bar with them occasionally running errands for her but Makino had kept Red in line so they never pushed.

Anyone who kept Red in line was someone to take heed of. Red was someone that took every single advantage, or practically every single one, and made them stretch and twist and tangle until not only had you lost, but were confused about what just happened that caused you to loose. Red didn't follow normal logic unless it suited her –and her female logic worked just fine.

Red was really reckless and crazy smart at times. Sabo had no qualms about admitting that she was probably smarter than him. Now that he was thinking about relative terms of intelligence, both Ace and Luffy could be reckless and smart as well -when they weren't being bottomless pits and idiots. He pointedly ignored the voice that said he was much the same as Ace but blond. Really, whoever said that blonds were dumb had never met Luffy.

Ace had a solid head on his shoulder should he choose to use it and it was nice when he kept a firm hand on his temper. Less stuff got destroyed that way. He had previously thought that those metal pipes were indestructible considering how carelessly Ace had used his in the past. That was one of the casualties of Ace and Red's rivalry.

Luffy was still a naive, happy-go-lucky idiot who was something of a battle savant. He had gotten much better than he used to be. He didn't need a metal pipe to take down beasts anymore. He had finally gotten a decent grasp over his powers at thirteen, so it was fine to leave him alone for a few weeks. They just told him to visit Dadan or Makino whenever lonely.

Red, as Sabo had thought before, was for the most part an easy-going, but serious at times, tease who could easily become a serious and terrible threat with the right motivation. She had six different triggers that all had to be pressed hard in order to make her mad. If someone managed to press a few of them damn hard then she'd destroy a person. People don't realize that it's the people with a long fuse on their temper that they need to watch out for –a longer fuse gave you more time to run away.

Sabo hated the fact that he had become the 'sane' on of their group. He at least kept his pipe to whack them with whenever they got a bit too insane. Not that he had been able to whack Red with it in a while. That haki thing was really handy…

Sabo sprawled out on the small ship, made his neckerchief and coat into a pillow and took a nap.

* * *

Sabo, being the person most adept at navigating during the day was correcting Ace as they traveled to a nearby island once he was up. Bastards had let him get burned by the sun. Ace was the one actually navigating. He needed the practice. Red might have taught them all how to navigate by starlight, but she was also able to do so during the day as well. Sabo had been navigating before his nap.

Thankfully, Ace was being nice about being corrected. Being out at sea had soothed his temper _a lot_. It had also soothed Red's temper as there was only so much shade on the little ship they were using and she was _staying in it_. Red and strong sunlight for long durations didn't get along. Her wearing long sleeves weren't just for covering up the scars on her arms. They were to prevent the sun from burning her into lobster red. When they were in the forest, it wasn't that bad. The leafy canopy blocked the worst of the sun.

Red was doing something with a barrel that had previously contained food before Luffy had gotten into it sometime before they had left and a pack of cards. That's why they were correcting their course. He and Red had rather large appetites although Luffy's and Ace could out eat them both with ease. They didn't want to drift aimlessly and starve of course. That would just be a horrible way to die. It was possible that Ace would likely eat him. Now that was the beginning of a fine story…

Once he was done entertaining that horror story idea, he watched Ace for a bit. He was currently fishing, although it looked like he had fallen asleep sitting up while doing so. Ace's sudden dips into dreamland were scary as hell when they first started happening when he was fourteen. Considering that Ace and Red were into one of their 'I'm seriously going to kill you or die trying' matches, Ace's narcolepsy caused a momentary but massive freak-out from Red. It was why Sabo thought that they were suffering from a lot of unresolved sexual tension. He was genre-savvy like that.

Since Ace was asleep, he looked over at Red and watched her toss cards into the empty barrel. It took him a moment to realize that she was working with small amounts of haki into those cards –although he didn't know what she was doing or how well she was doing it. He wondered why, which lead him to consider her motivations and then he realized something.

He really didn't know why Red did anything other than whims and responsibility and rivalry.

"Oi! Red! I just realized that I never heard your dream!" Sabo shouted.

It was unnecessary as the ship was small, but she was training and sometimes, she wasn't the best about realizing what was going on around her, especially if her sleeping self knew they were 'safe.' Having had fought Red when she was asleep wasn't something he would ever want to do again. Best to let her stay in bed and pray you didn't become her pillow. She cuddled in her sleep and wasn't the best about moderating her strength. His poor ribs…

"My dream?" She repeated in those absent-minded tones before seeming to wake up out of her training trance. "I thought you knew it!" She accused.

"It'd be interesting to see what the Kijo dreams about other than being a Kijo." Ace replied, before yawning.

"You didn't know either?" Red replied.

An aura of depression clouded around her complete with a miniature rain cloud thundering above her. Sabo wondered how she did that. He was beginning to be able to use haki but he wasn't anywhere near close to being able to call it up at will, much less any special effects like that. Ace was getting there but he was only recently starting to.

"So what is your dream then Red?" Sabo asked.

"It's personal." She replied in a surprisingly level voice. Judging by the blank expression and darkening clouds that were now crackling lightning around her; he was safer and saner not asking.

"So then, what are you going to do?" Ace asked.

"Anything I judge worth doing! I have a list of what I plan on doing in my life!" She replied cheerfully which thankfully dispelled the aura of depression and those clouds.

"A list?" Ace asked his face incredulous.

Sabo knew why Ace was disbelieving, as Red was usually far more reckless with Ace than with anyone else. Reckless abandon didn't lend itself to long-term planning. In several ways he and the world would be glad that those two would finally permanently separate once Ace was seventeen even though they were best friends even though they both would deny that they were even friends.

The world wouldn't survive if they had stuck together.

Sabo solidly believed this like he believed in _gravity_.

They had a tendency to egg each other to new heights of craziness that they wouldn't do so individually and _succeed_ in whatever crazy stunt it was. Cliff-diving, joining Red in taming a sea king, seeing who could steal the most by pickpocketing, strength contests and blowing up a cave that had been home to a colony of giant crabs before eating them and such. This was their last stop in their short tours of each of the East Blue's "monster" islands. They had visited home shortly before leaving to off-load spoils of their journey.

He ignored the fact that they all had managed to get a souvenir from each island for Red's little sister who he had dubbed Pink. He had no idea how she managed to look that adorable when by all rights she should be color clashing with her coloring. Now, if only she didn't have such a crush on him…

Even considering the reckless heights they drove each other to, and the crazy stunts on those last few islands that they had visited, Red usually at least planned out how and what she was going to do, which led her to surviving whatever challenge with less injuries than Ace. Part of that could be because she had started carrying a good steel blade and that hand cannon of a gun on top of the snub-nosed revolver, and knowing how to use such equipment would obviously give her an advantage over a fist fighter. Yeah, those unwritten rules forbid her from using the advantage of a sword or gun against Ace in any of the spars or fights, but competitions were fair game.

Sabo had forgotten the sheer number of concussions that Ace had suffered in her presence over the years. He had gotten more than a few of concussions himself. Red was adept at what they called the amnesia concussions.

Sabo found it miraculous that Ace actually managed to remember more than half of his childhood. Garp's fist of love was included in this list of concussions.

That old man might have been a monster but Red could be pure evil at times.

"Do you have it on you?" The blond decided to ask eventually ask.

"Yeah! That way I can update it at will!" She took out the list that been hidden somewhere, and Sabo noted again that she have very elaborate and pretty handwriting. It only took him reading less than five lines to realize something.

"A lot of these are contradictory, ya know that?"

There were times that he had actually found that Red could be very dense or even oblivious with some things. Then there were times that she made sense and was scary smart. He wondered if she just hadn't noticed the contradiction. It was possible after all, however unlikely. Red had superb observation skills and a sharp memory –something that every barkeep should have.

"Yep!" She replied with a laughing grin.

"So how could you be a marine when you're not?"

She turned serious. "Everything on that list is possible for a person to do." Then she turned carefree again. "They just have to be a bit creative in how they do it! Dahahaha!"

"How do you be a Marine Captain for a day?" Ace asked from his perch on the boat's rail. He was reading over Sabo's shoulder which annoyed Sabo to no end. He would have scoffed but the both of them had done enough 'impossible' things to know or at least guess how it would work.

"That's easy enough! You impersonate one of them!"

It figured. The most likely and crazy option available.

"Most marines are guys." Sabo pointed out as the voice of reason.

"Captain Hina isn't. She's also rather new to her captaincy. She's due at this base here in three days. The crew that's escorting her will return back the next day so that means I only have people that will have known her for less than 48hrs to fool."

That was _oddly specific_ information. Had Red been planning this?

"I thought Makino said no acts of piracy were to be committed until we hit seventeen." Ace replied.

"Does impersonating a marine count as an act of piracy or is it a misdemeanor?" Red asked aloud. Sabo watched Red muse in thought for a bit before she decided something. "I think I need law books later. Besides you say that like I'll get caught."

She haughtily waved off Ace's concern easily enough.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Ace warned.

* * *

Sabo later found that his worry and Ace's concern was unneeded. Red was _a lot_ more careful than you'd assume. He now knew that she _had planned_ this. It wouldn't have worked so perfectly if she hadn't.

Ace's warning aside, it was a very entertaining week that Red had spent as Hina the Marine Captain. She had the various marine-minions working, exercising like mad, doing make-work and helping around the town. She generally boosted the reputation of the Marine's in the area.

A few days to the exact hour after she had the real Hina arrested she stopped messing with the Marines. That was a fun day.

When she was done being a marine Captain, she left a note on the desk that had been temporarily hers. That note had amounted to a greeting card and taunt on top of the desk. It could best be paraphrased as, "Welcome to East Blue –the weakest sea yet home to the craziest people that just haven't left home yet, Captain Hina. Please enjoy your time and stay here." The last bit was particularly hilarious as there was an amusing picture drawn by Ace of Hina behind bars. Sabo was still unsure how he got past security to do so.

Ace and Red had some nice artistic skills to them. There was a reason that when and if he had ever decided to write children's stories that he would strong arm them into helping him. It was one of the few areas that Ace was genuinely more talented than Red at.

The post script was the taunt. It said for each marine to re-familiarize each and every one of them on base with the disciplinary action needed for every order disobeyed by said imprisoned officer and following the orders of someone that wasn't your commanding officer and for saluting a pirate. Red had even listed them, by number and verse.

Once all that business was done, Red had tossed the keys towards Hina's cell so that the woman could let herself out.

Sabo had to only briefly wonder how she knew all those Marine rules -even those only for officers.

The amount of fury soon sensed from the base had them all in tears with laughter until they came to their senses. Not that they hadn't been laughing like lunatics already.

"Um, have you given any thought to how you're going to escape now?"

"Well, I was thinking about navigating by the stars since tonight is going to be new moon and sneaking past any marine ships."

"That would work, if Ace hadn't destroyed the boat." Sabo pointed out.

"How'd he do that?" The eyebrow twitching demanded an explanation. "I liked that boat."

"A turtle bit his foot and he was trying to get it off and...eh heh." Sabo trailed off with a nervous look.

"Then we'll just buy a boat."

"No one's selling. Already done checked, nicely by saying that we wanted to get something bigger than what our cover story had." Ace replied and completely without shame that he had destroyed their old boat.

Sabo realized and not for the last time -there were times that being the sane one sucked.

"Damn. Well then, we can steal it and reimburse them the amount that it was worth. That's not stealing but aggressive and sneaky business negotiations!" Red reasoned out.

Unfortunately, reason and sanity didn't always go hand in hand. Which sucked. It was apparently far more fun to be insane than crazy.

"I'm pretty sure that that's still stealing." Sabo replied, just to make a point. He really had no problems stealing a boat for them to use.

For all that Red could plan and calculate –she had the freakiest logic to work with at times. That was proven by her skinny dipping once she had outgrown her old bikini top –in a crocodile infested river. The closest comparison was Luffy's logic but that was like comparing a fish to a sea king.

Luffy's logic was ultimately childish and couldn't be applied in many situations but Red had stopped reading mystery novels because halfway through she could divine the who, how and why.

It sucked that she was usually right.

"But I'm paying for it." She countered with a whine evident in her voice.

"Never mind. We've got a boat that we were planning on taking with, um, by sneaky business negotiations anyway..." Sabo said.

"Good. Do you know where a decent restaurant is at? I'm hungry and we don't look like we're pirates if we hide the hats and get the both of you in shirts... that'll work. Yeah, we're going to have to make you both look like normal citizen and not boys raised by bandits."

"You're paying?" Ace asked. Here, Sabo had thought that he would object to the being raised by bandits part if anything. They had only held the thinnest of ties to them...

"Can't dine and dash. Mom said so." Red replied.

"Don't fall asleep in your food Ace." Sabo said to remind him about that. He noticed that it was funny how his narcolepsy became much worse once he was off the island.

"Attracts too much attention ya know?" Red reminded Ace of.

"I can't help that! It just happens!" Ace replied hotly.

"Drowning in your soup would break our promise." Red said in what would be a teasing tone of voice but it had an unidentifiable edge to it...

"Yeah. Can't have that can we?" Ace asked remarkably calm, despite his earlier outburst.

Sabo again felt a bit left out between the duo. What the hell? It wasn't the first time, but they were being remarkably open and blunt about this promise. Usually if they mentioned it at all, they were far more subtle. For all the denials about their friendship, they were close beyond belief. Most people can't finish another's sentences without a lot of practice.

"Don't look so down Bo-boy. It's a promise that was made when we made a truce and stopped trying to actively kill each other!" Red said in far too cheerful voice.

Did he hear that right? They stop _actively_ trying to kill each other?

"Yeah, it probably won't even ever be needed. If it is? I suggest to praying to whatever you believe in while running far, far away as fast and as stealthy as possible." Ace suggested.

Ace was surprisingly more merciful than Red. He gave actual warnings.

"Why?"

The dark morbid humor in the duo's matching evil and anticipating smirks spoke of things he did not want to know for the sake of his sanity –at least at this point in time.

Then Ace asked the question that Sabo had thought of.

"_Actively_? How the hell do you kill someone passively?"

* * *

After the meal in which the three of them had ordered a lot of food –mostly because they would work the calories off and making sure that Ace actually had enough food to get full. Red did pay the bill. It seemed that she had been bounty hunting again for her to carry that much in cash.

They then hung around town for a few more hours.

Sabo then brought up that she had planned this week out rather well if she had allowed Luffy to eat up some of their supplies before they left. She wouldn't have know about the new Captain coming if she didn't. She confirmed it with a smile. He had to stop the both of them from getting into a fight in the middle of town though.

It didn't stop them from making their fury known to him. Next time, he'd find a better excuse for why they were fighting beyond a lover's quarrel. The combined glare made him want to run for it. His excuse also turned the unresolved sexual tension between Red and Ace into something just plain awkward. They ignored the change in status quo, and would as Sabo knew; they would continue doing so for at least the rest of the day.

During their short and joined exploration of the sea port city is also when they got tattoos. Ace had his on his arm and they would be hidden from Makino until Ace was out at sea. That was simple self-preservation instinct acting up again. Ace would have a harder time hiding his tats than he would.

He thought that Red's design was awesome for the A. The other two letters turned out rather plain in comparison. It could always been added to at some point later in the future, which is why they were so plain. That's what the two of them argued back to him said anyway. That awkwardness was still there but in a much diminished capacity.

Sabo had joined in the line, getting something similar done for him on his left arm. The letters were just a bit less intricate than Ace's ace on his arm but more so than the rest of his letters.

He and Ace then tried to get her to get her own name on her arm, but she pointed out that her name had more letters and the letters would be cramped. She instead got a star that matched the color of her purple eyes that had a red outline on it.

Sabo was thankful that the tattoo artist didn't mention anything about the thin scars that while practically invisible, were still all over her from when she killed her first sea king –all twenty eight of them in varying lengths and widths. Two on the left cheek on her face, two more on each of her shoulder tops, with five on her torso. Two parallel scars just barely above her left breast, another one was just under her right breast that cut along the rib. Another scar went from her right side's false ribs down to the hip and had the distinction of being the deepest one, while the last on her torso was a three inch long scar that was right over her left kidney. The other numerous scars decorated her arms in stripe like bands of varying lengths and widths. (1)

This is where he was thankful that both he and Red wore longer sleeves regularly, if for different reasons.

* * *

Thankfully for the rest of the day, Red and he were able to pass off as cousins with Ace being their childhood friend and they were traveling around some before they actually became adults and had to be completely responsible. It was a plausible story that they had used before on various islands. Thankfully he and Ace had clung to the background during the week Red was being Hina.

Considering the marines who were combing the area bought the story and Red was looking and acting remarkably innocent –how that conniving and evil woman did that he did not know- he felt what little respect he had for the competency of the world government and the marines reach a new low –although in the future, his opinion would continuously sink as he worked with the revolutionaries.

It wouldn't be until nearly five years later at what would become known as the 'Battle of Marineford' or 'War of the Best' that his opinion of the World Government would reach an all time low and his opinion that Red was possibly the scariest woman in the world –bar Makino- would be ratified at large. He'd also see why that promise was the worst possible thing to threaten and learn why.

Even with that mystery solved, he wished it wasn't.

It wasn't good for his continued sanity or health.

Or his work and career.

Damn.

* * *

A/N; Hey, look spoilers. It's remarkably easy to do with Sabo. Answers to questions however won't come until the Whitebeard Saga. That's when a number of things will be solved –but not all of them.

1. Akiyaki didn't come out of the sea king encounter unscathed. She nearly died for a reason. I'm eventually going to put up a full-body, maybe nude of Akiyaki on deviant art. Until then, insanescriptist. deviantart gallery/38002013#/d55umft for an image of most of the scars.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N; More Sabo! Sabo's chapters seem so short. It seems so unfair. By the way, his crew isn't all that important so they're not really mentioned besides a few who will show up again -mostly in short Sabo-centric sections. Sort of like how none of the Spade Pirates are never mentioned again in cannon after Ace joins Whitebeard.

Ace is 18. Aki is 19. Sabo is practically 18. Luffy is 14 for a little under two months more.

* * *

**2/7/2013 Edit**

Chapter 19: Benihime Approved!

Sabo had been sailing for a year as Captain of his own crew and they were just about ready to try their luck in the second half of the Grand Line once they had their ship coated at Saboady. They didn't so much blaze a path through Paradise as much as meandered and wandered across the preferred 'seven routes' of it. They had also had to stop at a few places to do some major repairs to his ship at times. Reverse Mountain had done a damn good job of smashing up his ship, but they did spend several weeks with Crocus and Laboon –crazy whale, but much loved by all of his crew who had met him and himself. Then there were the people who his parents and the others that had been sent after him –they were determined, he'd give them that much. Goa's Princess had inherited the throne and had full control of the island.

He assumed that after he had a bounty placed on his head, the scandal of him living broke back in High Town and the new Queen decided that she wanted him. Red confirmed that and told him some good and not so good news. While puberty had done just plain magical work with the Queen's looks, it still didn't change the fact that she was his cousin on both sides of his family tree. Ick.

As it stood, he was enjoying himself at a rather clean bar in one of the lawless zones. They were only on the side of Paradise in the Grand Line as Ace had nearly four months of a head start and Sabo liked to take his time to talk to people for their stories –in between outwitting marines and having his own adventures. That and having a few eternal poses allowed them to get off the standard routes and visiting a few strange places with even stranger inhabitants.

He could have done well without one or two of those 'off the beaten track adventures' though. The island with talking bears still showed up in his nightmares, even though they were far too nice and polite. Honestly, Red's sense of humor was trauma inducing. He spent the entire week they were there in a mild panic.

During his adventures he had gone through several notebooks. The notebooks were almost evenly divided between his own fictional, made up in his head, stories and the already for stories that he had picked up here and there or heard directly from those in it already. It had let him meet all sorts of people from locally infamous, to celebrities to retired pirates that were living legends.

He did have to say that actually meeting Red Leg Zeff was kind of awesome. He wasn't able to recruit a cook from the Baratie but he did get a few easy, simple recipes for later which his cook did thank him for. He also got a few stories from the old temperamental geezer, but he didn't pry at how the old chef lost his leg. He did have some observational skills in him to sort out the liars and tact was something worth keeping. While he didn't know what the hell caused Zeff to lose his leg, the head chef judged that the sacrifice was worth it. Considering how well the young smoking sous-chef cooked, Sabo also considered it worth it even if he knew as soon as he saw the blond chef that they wouldn't mesh well. It still didn't nab him a discount though.

He also learned during his two-day stay that the Baratie was a Benihime approved restaurant. She had never mentioned that fact to anybody but Red was a master of understatement so she could have said, "I went to a well-known restaurant. It and the food was lovely." That was just a more mild example understatement compared to what she regularly left off.

Things getting surprised on him like that and self-preservation were why he always used his best manners when dealing with unknown people and had earned a reputation as a gentleman.

That might be why his epitaph was the 'Gentleman' Sabo of the Top-hat pirates.

Still that left him with a problem that made him want to order the entire bottle of sub-standard whiskey in a semi-clean pub filled with other pirates, bounty hunters and who knows what on the eve of his eighteenth birthday.

Being known as the Top-hat pirates didn't mean that his ship's musician was allowed to wear that blue fuzzy monstrosity that was masquerading as a hat and failing at it. Really, was that thing a hat?

"What is that?" Sabo asked just to make sure it wasn't some previously undiscovered life form that he should inform Red about. She liked dangerous critters that were more likely to kill you than allow you to pet it. There was a reason that she often avoided sailing on her ship and his name was Shishi the sea king. Shishi's head was larger than his ship. That really wasn't saying much as sea kings were gigantic but at least Shishi wasn't the size of full grown island whales yet either.

"It's a top-hat silly." His nakama, Nala Peprilla replied.

"It's fuzzy." He replied for lack of anything better to say.

His musician certainly was unique when it came to fashion. The usual ditzy blond musician had the blue fuzzy top hat on top of her head. Her hair was in its usual side ponytail and her tube top matched the color of her newly bought hat exactly. She was wearing a ruffled and layered pink skirt with purple splotches on it. She also like Red in her favored good girl outfit, she dressed in striped stockings and boots although hers were more of the whimsical fairy like boots. She was far more outrageous color choices with lime green and orange being the day's choices on her mismatched stockings. As usual, a number of pieces of jewelry adorned her arms and ears and neck making each step she took a sound jangling cacophony of sound. She also carried her instrument and also weapon case on her back. Who was the sick fellow that came up with that sort of weapon?

It was understandable that she drew odd looks from just about everyone who saw her.

Surprisingly, she wasn't the weirdest of his crew. Nor was she the most color coordinating challenged member either –that belonged to his ship's doctor Jazz who also had no sense of time whatsoever. Sabo privately feared that he'd eventually go blind from the clashing colors alone.

"It's different." He eventually said.

His musician's unusual and much clashing taste in fashion aside, that didn't explain the looks of fear that everyone was getting and sending towards him. He didn't have a 'scary' reputation.

He was known as a 'super-rookie' but wasn't known for anything that would inspire fear of that level. High bounty of 180 million aside, he was a nice enough fellow, piracy aside.

"Your musician's got interesting taste in clothing." He heard a female voice from beside him say. "Nice taste in boots though. Any idea where she got them from?"

She sounded really familiar.

He then identified the voice.

Ah, that would explain the looks of fear.

When did she get beside him again? It was unfair that she could still do that, even though he had gotten pretty good with haki. How did she get wicked stealth skills and where could he get them?

He then reminded himself of who she was and how she preferred to train. Did he want to go through some new form of crazy 'I'm gonna die' training for them? There's also the fact that she was constantly training in some form or capacity. That's not to say that she was a workaholic, she was just _highly and scarily efficient _and able to compete with herself in various 'games' that not only killed time but polished her skills. She slept sometimes. He knew she did. Her sleepwalking self was almost if not more dangerous and good as she was awake.

"Who's this Captain?" His musician asked, mock-innocently. He knew his musician was faking because she had a tendency to bite her lip so that she could look 'cuter.'

He that bit of innocence his musician was projecting was fake.

She clearly knew who was beside him.

He did too.

Time to say hello to her after all. It was only polite.

"Nice to see you again, Benihime. And no, I have no idea where she got those boots at. I think it was at Fullcross though." Sabo replied as he turned his head towards her.

How strange it was to call Red that! But she was clearly Benihime at the moment and not the Red he knew and grew up with. Having seen the both of them, he would say that they were certainly different from each other in several aspects. Benihime was a bit more serious which meant she was less likely to tease.

He was undecided if it was a good thing or not.

Another major difference between Red and Benihime was the fact that Red knew how to and would use a gun. Benihime was a woman entirely too fond of sharp pointy things. Red could also appear to be far softer than Benihime was rumored to be. That's not to say that they both couldn't be scary.

Case in point, that predatory smile that was showing far too many teeth to be safe.

She smiled that predatory smile at the rest of the bar. That smile was scary on _anyone_ but in a place where the majority of the patrons were pirates? Weak pirates? A change in posture, a subtle pressure... It had an effect.

"Aaah! It's Benihime! Run for your lives!" A drunken patron yelled before evacuating.

Sabo observed the mob mentality take over. That particular patron also caused a number of other patrons to leave in a stampede. Two unlucky former patrons were trampled. One was superbly unlucky for the day as someone's foot had likely stomped on his own personal family treasures if the rolling on the floor meant anything. He eventually managed to drag himself out by his elbows while crying. He was quite fast at it too.

Sabo was still leaning towards the idea of less teasing was better. The trauma wasn't happening to him after all.

"Why are you drinking in such a dive, blue-boy?" Benihime asked. "I can smell from here that the alcohol has already gotten soured with heat."

He, Ace and Luffy did find out that she had a very good nose. There was an inside joke between those that knew her well enough to understand it at her less flattering epitaph of 'Bloody Bitch.' Not that those she had rejected hadn't deserved it. She had standards. They removed the majority of the world's population from ever having a chance.

"I was hoping for some interesting stories, but I wasn't getting any." The latest super rookie captain replied truthfully.

Some of the ones he had gathered about her and what she had done were outrageous but believable. He had grown-up with her after all. Crazy intelligent and ridiculously strong at times with more than a little bit of luck and application of knowledge –they were actually believable. All those books and knowledge she had pressed on him had its payoffs. He knew those stunts were plausible.

Not for the last time Sabo thought that Ace really was talented with nicknames. There were people that believed that she was a genuine demon. Having known her for most of his life, he could understand that belief. 'She-devil' was rather appropriate.

Knowing all that, Sabo didn't resist her stealing his mug of grog with her left hand.

He was brave and rather reckless but he wasn't suicidal.

She'd really become one if he tried to take it back.

She liked her alcohol, after all.

He knew the grog was crap, but since her expression went blank and flat at that first taste, he figured that it was worse than he thought. He briefly wondered if it was drugged, but he knew that he really hadn't been drinking any of it so he had no idea but a very, very small possibility bordering on the impossible sided. It was possible after all and this was the Grand Line. He did after all keep his name and appearance the same after the fire after all so there was a very, very likely possibility of his parents being behind this. They were determined about getting him back, but maybe far less so now that he was practically eighteen.

May both his parents rot in hell. He had his brothers, and a shitty old geezer for a grandpa. Even though both Ace and Red weren't intimate at the moment, there was really no denying that they loved each other –and were still in love with each other. He really hoped that if and when he fell in love, that he wouldn't spend so much time in denial of it. Then again, they both had good reasons for a mutual break-up and if circumstances weren't what they were, then he had no idea why they would have ever separated.

"Did you actually pay for this piss?" The alcohol loving red head asked with an edge in her voice.

"Not yet." Sabo admitted.

"It's barely even good piss. Watered down too. This bar is not Benihime approved." She quickly took the flagon and flung it through the window. Not that the window was even open either. He thought he heard a 'thunk' followed by some curses.

Sabo was now pretty certain that she had managed to hit someone with that. His musician was blinking in disbelief which made Sabo more certain he wasn't having auditory hallucinations.

Sabo chuckled at her statement before laughing out loud for a beat.

Benihime was mostly known for three things.

One was being the 'strongest and most beautiful swordswoman' out there.

It was understood that she was also one of the strongest swordsmen around. Rumor had it that she was trying for Mihawk's title although knowing who Benihime was –Sabo knew that she didn't care for titles. She probably just had 'matching Mihawk for X amount of days' on that list of hers already marked off. She was more likely trying to dupe him next. Well, that or something else that was probably mentally traumatizing or scandalous. Red could be rather shameless at times.

Two was blood.

She had shed quite a bit of it from bounties and from poor unfortunate souls who had hit on her which earned her the epitaphs of Sword Maiden, Bloody Bitch and Crimson Blade –it depended on who was speaking of her. Have some insight into the human mind through his work and what he had read; he knew why she had such different epitaphs. Sword Maiden was for all the guys that would worship at a distance. Bloody Bitch was when she was hunting or for those that were turned down. Crimson Blade was a title that according to rumor had started after she was done with a hunt yet hadn't got around to cleaning her blade yet. Rumor was wrong though. He did know that the Crimson Blade was a title she had bestowed upon her from an island there from one of her letters. That title made her the Queen's left hand and gave her an enormous amount of authority on that island. She really liked the Queen there, but she had never said why, but her standards were beyond warped at times.

The third thing she was known for was her love of booze and the breadth of knowledge she possessed of it.

From his own knowledge, he knew that she was as her usual self was no novice to the brewing arts or keeping a place clean. From Zeff, he learned that she really did know her wines, even if she was a little fuzzy on the years on a few brands. Sabo had no idea how she managed to avoid the woman worshiping sous-chef, but as he had practically broke down upon 'missing such a vision of loveliness' it was possible. Because of this scope of alcoholic knowledge and demands of cleanliness and appropriate atmosphere, there were only a few bars on both sides of the Grand Line that could meet the standards needed to be Benihime approved. He knew of a few. They were awesome. He also picked up a few tales of her exploits while in those few approved bars. He also never knew that you could do that with a sword until he heard tale of it. He still was sure of the mechanics behind the technique though.

There was more than one reason he traveled around with a note pad and paper in his coat pockets. He like Ace had abandoned having an actual shirt. Unlike the latest he had heard about Ace he actually kept his coat on most of the time, then again he wasn't made of fire. Red, he knew had stolen a large number of Ace's shirts but she had left him with at least a few of them and a decent jacket so that he didn't cause unwanted questions if he had gone to a Winter Island. She was a clothes thief without compare. He had lost far less than Ace in the number of shirts stolen, but a number of his tank tops had gone missing over the years along with a few pairs of shorts. Even Luffy wasn't exempt.

Benihime by contrast was known as something of an bounty hunter crossed with a bit of pirate yet the world government had yet to put a bounty on her as she did more 'good' than 'harm' and acted something like an unofficial Shichibukai. Rumor had it that those that would ask her to become one could never find her -which was typical Red behavior. Also like some of the Shichibukai, she also had friends and allies in high and low places. Unlike the Shichibukai and most bounties, she had no official picture either. Red and all of her guises _hated_ media attention.

It also made any confidence he had in the World Government's competence had long since been lost. Rumor had it, that she was somehow distantly related to Shanks. Benihime was supposedly from West Blue. Sabo knew that was just the first place that she had come to official appearance. Shanks hadn't been back in West Blue for years, from what was reported in the news. News that he knew was rather doctored but still rather accurate. He knew from traveling himself that it was easily possible to avoid marine detection while sailing and on land.

Any other individual who had come to the conclusion that Benihime and Akagami were related had either backed off in fear of the Yonko, the fact that she had carved out her own fearsome reputation or some other reason. Sure she had plenty of enemies, but they were usually dealt with easily and turned into booze and spending money. With Benihime sometimes she'd leave tied up and defeated wanted pirates instead of money to cover her tabs. The last usually only happened if someone had started a bar-fight in her presence. It didn't end well. Even adding up all of what she was purported to spend which was likely exaggerated as she liked her alcohol but wasn't an alcoholic, didn't add up to a quarter of what she earned through hunting. Actually it might add up to an eighth or a sixth.

He glanced at Red. She was in her usual Benihime costume.

The first thing a guy would notice was the lack of an actual shirt. Instead she had breasts wrapped tight in bandages with a corset over the wrappings. The corset was a dark shade red of course, but in this light it looked closer to black. She wore a cropped at mid back but heavily ornate and decorated crimson coat with a high collar. There were a few small buttons that could close the coat shut and as usual for her guise as Benihime the accents and metal involved was gold. Around her waist were several ornate and golden belts over the sash that extended to cover her hips. There was a little half-skirt thing which covered her legs to a few inches below her knees. Somewhere under the belts and half-skirt were tiny dark red shorts, not that they could be seen under the wide sash. An unusual aspect of her Benihime guise was her lack of boots. Instead she wore several ankle bracelets and heeled sandals. Also as usual as Benihime her sword and the sheath were propped lazily over her right shoulder.

It was kind of sad when you considered the fact that she rarely unsheathed the sword and still beat most people with only the sheath most days. He didn't know how she got that good with a sword that quickly, but it wasn't like she was completely unfamiliar with a sword. It was just interesting that she had such a sword associated with her. It was said to be a magnificent blade.

Then again the blade was rumored to be insanely heavy.

He wondered how much it really weighed.

Damn his curiosity.

"How heavy is that blade?" Sabo asked.

"Dunno. Most people say it's absurdly fucking heavy. It's not that heavy. Don't you think?"

She held the blade out to him while it still rested in its sheath. Sabo called up what he could of haki to reinforce himself as he picked it up –and fell to the floor.

"It's heavy Benihime. _Really heavy_. Like _heavier_ than _my ship_." Sabo hissed.

"I dunno why everyone says it is. It's not _that_ heavy. It's not a cursed blade either... so I guess that means that you're pretty weak then!"

Did it make him a bad friend if he wanted to kill her for that? She looked far too cheerful while saying such a thing. He wasn't going to be weak and regret this!

"It's heavy." Sabo said as he picked himself and the blade off the floor with some extra effort that had him straining. "Take it back." He panted as he placed it on the bar –which the sword's weight then broke. That was the best way to describe the carnage that just the weight of the blade and the sheath caused the bar.

How the hell did Red _swing_ that blade? He could barely lift it with both hands!

Better question. How the hell did she _sail_ with that? _It weighed more than his ship!_

Sabo noted that the barkeep was still dumbfounded by Benihime appearing. Then again he could have been stumped that he managed to pick the blade and sheathe up. Or maybe he was in shock about the destruction of his bar top. He wasn't the least bit sorry about it.

"Fine. Since you're able to pick it up then I guess you're not that pathetic anymore."

She gave him a grin that was purely Red. She took her blade back with ease and grabbed his hand. "So I'll take you to a bar that's been Benihime approved!" She grinned and started to drag him out.

"Nala! Go tell the rest of the crew where we'll be once we get there!" He ordered as he was dragged. There was no way that he was protesting this 'kidnapping.' Red was freakishly strong at times.

His oddly dressed musician and unofficial first mate nodded absentmindedly as she sedately followed.

She was clearly dumbfounded.

Red had that effect.

* * *

Sabo then spent the rest of night getting stories of the Roger pirate's antics first-hand from the living legend 'Dark King' Silvers Rayleigh himself in exchange for some of his childhood stories. Looking back, the four of them had done some crazy things before they were ever seventeen. He wasn't so much the 'sane man' as much as the 'sanest one.'

This was after he got over the shock of actually meeting the guy himself.

It was the best birthday gift _ever_.

Who cared about that fabled treasure Ace's father had stashed?

The Top-hat pirates were pirates who appreciated stories, songs and music. That was their treasure. Those were treasures that could be easily shared or hoarded but never stolen.

They partied, exchanged stories and songs through the night.

* * *

He was less than happy upon waking in the morning to find that 'Dark King' Silvers Rayleigh was not in the best of moods because Red had left him with her booze tab –again.

It was an impressive amount of beli. Several million beri was a big booze tab.

That story sounded interesting. Wait, again? He'd have to get that story from the lady named Shakky once he was able to think and his hand was steady. He'd then have to write it down, make a copy of that story and send it to Ace. He needed the laugh more than likely.

Red had awesome trained little birds for mail delivery. Some of those delivery birds were also not so little. It made him wonder how she managed to find a Roc-hawk nesting ground much less train them for travel and delivery.

This explanation, no story, would be gotten, after he stopped the Dark King from chasing after Red. It wouldn't end well. He knew this from childhood experience.

No, he'd go and let him chase after a warning. It would make a far more interesting tale to get later.

He already had an idea of how Red's part of the story would go.

No matter what she was wearing or what name she was going by, it couldn't be denied.

Red, at times, was a genuine demon.

* * *

A/N; I wonder how many people pick up on my little hints about certain events that have already transpired and will transpire but won't be described for several more chapters. It won't be until and after the Whitebeard Saga and I'm working with original material that this story will truly earn its M rating or technically an MA rating to be honest -I'm gonna have to gloss over some things because has decided to actually enforce its policy.

I've said it before, Aki isn't all that nice. She's not a saint either. The world isn't a nice place either. Reputation is important in One Piece and both Benihime's and Valentine's are able to inspire certain feelings in people. Benihime usually inspires awe and unlike Valentine is considered human. Valentine isn't. Valentine is where the story gets rather dark.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Where I wish that we had more cannon for this guy –but we don't. So I'm going with very passionate but somewhat methodical and crazy guy who can and does truly believe in what he's doing. He does have a few flaws but dear readers, try to remember that he's an awesome guy but he's still human. He is also equally crazy to his relatives –I think he just hides it better or we haven't seen it anyways... I'm betting on the latter because of what Iva said back in Impel Down.

Almost at the end of the Sabo arc, and then it's the next interlude at chapter 22 and then the Luffy arc.

This is just Dragon musing over snippets of thought over a three year period. Akiyaki had a restriction of 'sailing' out of East Blue. No restrictions about riding a sea king or a roc-hawk or some other animal.

**2/9/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 20: The Musings of A Revolutionary

A few years ago, if someone had asked Monkey D. Dragon if it was possible to _always_ find someone without the use of a Vivre card he would have replied no and then asked them to get their head checked –by Iva or a fleet of doctors or someone who specialized in head medicine. Because, really, that was a crazy idea. The world was a vast place and several people could easily be in the same area and not ever know that the others were there. That was actually one of his favorite tactics for throwing off any pursuers. The revolutionaries were by _necessity_, constantly on the move and always avoiding the authorities.

It figured that as they were sailing in part of the Grand Line that he had run into someone who could.

In the Grand Line it was often said that anything was possible.

Even the impossible.

Like someone _always_ being able to find him. He really wanted to know how she was able to do it. Just so that no one else could. It was not because he was annoyed that a little girl or now a young woman, could find him with ease while he had thrown off government and other pursuits with ease since before she was born.

He and everyone else on ship had not expected to see a young roc-hawk that day land like a tame news-coo on his ship. The roc-hawk was half the size of his ship after all. He had expected even less of the roc-hawk to be carrying a passenger. Not that he had really reacted to such an event.

It only took him a minute to identify who it was.

He was smarter than his father after all.

Sometimes anyways.

It was the red head who he only remembered by the scars on her cheek and the association with a blond kid who hated being born a noble from his own home island –although he was rather sure that it was a red haired boy that he had met at the time.

He knew he wasn't all that great with kids and he didn't spend that much time around them because of it. They tended to be scared of him for some reason. He wasn't that scary was he? That was something to consider later. How scary was he?

Dragon knew he lacked any sort of parental skill beyond what was required for taking care of an infant. Garp wasn't a proper parental role model at all. The fact that he couldn't tell the gender of the red head at that time when they had first met was only more proof of his inadequacy as a parent.

About the only way that little girl had apparently changed was by growing up, and she grew up rather well. And far more dangerous, but that went without saying.

* * *

Their second meeting occurred on his ship several years after their first hurried meeting when Grey Terminal was burning. It was more of five approaching six years then, and that would be the first time Dragon had actually met someone who he could actually see continuing the revolution the way it had to be run if it was to do any good in the world –provided it was after she had fulfilled her own dreams and if circumstances allowed. There were extensive mitigating circumstances.

He had seen the list after asking for it some several sporadic meetings later.

It was impressively long but some were things that were easily done, which is why he never got to see the first hundred and twenty things on that list. He did know that she had added onto it every so often. The different colors of ink were an obvious hint along with the sheer amount of goals -and he hadn't even seen the full list! He did note that she had very nice penmanship that was quite often overly elaborate.

True the first visit to his ship was unusual, with all the dangerous people and weapons pointed in her direction. The more unusual point was her utter serenity about the fact.

What she said after only caused more confusion and grief. That first statement caused Iva to get 'IDEAS' and those were ideas usually left better left avoided. Even watching and knowing what happened next, Dragon had no idea how that meeting turned into quite the celebration.

He was only slightly confused and remained so about the quiet mention of 'congratulations' once all the attention had turned away from them both.

"For what?" Dragon asked.

"It's October fifth, dolt." She replied before she wandered back into the celebration.

* * *

Over the years that Dragon had known her she had continued her sporadic visits, usually bringing current and often stolen information. Information that she wasn't supposed to have.

He really wanted to know how the hell she had figured out his birthday though. It had been so long since he celebrated it that he had forgotten it. He did appreciate the gift of his cloak back, although it had long been turned into a pieces for a quilt. The quilt was also embroidered with cute little dragons.

How she got a hold of that information when they didn't, meant that she was slowly building an information network that was better than theirs –then again they mostly tapped every single conversation around the world with informants and spies sending out coded messages along the lines. There were cells, individual networks crossing islands, cities, Blues and other places. Why did they necessarily have to build a worldwide network when they could take full advantage over the Marine's and World Government's network? They still had minor networks here and there on islands and agents in places that needed them.

Considering the amount of effort going into the building of such an information network was particularly impressive when you considered how well or to be more accurate how poorly she and Den Den Mushi usually got along. Dragon had previously thought that Den Den Mushi were tame little guys that were content to be fed and kept by sentient beings everywhere. They were useful little fellows.

Around her they usually turned into vicious little bastards that would bite and turn rebellious. Whatever grudge they shared was returned by her and in full. The only exception would be his white Den Den Mushi and his black Den Den Mushi. She got along with those two. It was obvious that despite being able to speak the human language that the Den Den Mushi weren't able to understand it. The little snails would have retaliated and said something insulting back by now, but they mostly stuck to nipping at fingers. She was inventive in her language whenever that happened. She wasn't above using a sharp tongue to verbally flay someone to pieces, but as the Den Den Mushi didn't comprehend the human language they weren't bothered at all.

* * *

Two weeks before Iva volunteered to be sent to Impel Down, he had been more than a bit shocked at how well the two got along considering that they had only met a handful of times. Iva was known to be more than a little contrary after all.

This wasn't even dealing with his thoughts about who the red head reminded him of once he actually _looked_. Actually _looking_ was something far harder to do than it seemed. Pursing that line of thought of who she reminded him of had led to more than a few questions. By the time he asked if she was related to 'Akagami' Shanks he was already sure that she was. Not that her answer was a 'yes' or a 'no' in such a simple fashion. It took _skill_ to lie with non-distorted facts. Logic was in Dragon's opinion useful, but it could easily make one believe in incorrect conclusions.

Knowing all this, Dragon saw it as more proof that the world had a sense of humor. However poor that humor was, the world had one. Take that Kuma!

Knowing how quickly Ace -who he had only heard and read of- and Sabo -who was the blond that he had met all those years ago- were attaining fame on the seas, he had no doubt that as soon as the marines knew of their connections they would claim conspiracy when it was only coincidence.

Serendipity was better known as irony. It was also known as the world's sick sense of humor.

* * *

Two weeks after that first meeting they had met again, he was a bit shocked when he overheard her telling the other and _far less_ official members of the revolution about the adventures and antics of her best friend and his brothers when they were younger without ever naming names. The revolutionaries had rescued a number of kids from various places and they all couldn't always find a family for them or a place to where they could carve out their own home. So free entertainment? Fine. Kids liked to be entertained. Who didn't like to listen to stories? Even he did.

Usually he was able to sneak close enough to overhear and they were _interesting._ Not that she didn't know that he was there, but she didn't point him out which was always good.

The stories were often rather short, but they weren't meant to be epic tales. They were meant to entertain and teach –not to be analyzed like poetry or reports.

This is where he missed Iva. That one spy's report would be so much easier to understand if Iva were here as Iva got poetry. That and the okama would have prodded him in curiosity and then he would refocus on his goal and how to best achieve that.

Still, it was nice to hear some of the antics his son got up to –who took more after his own father, Garp the Iron Fist and Hero of the Marines, than he'd want to admit when it came to smarts. He tried to imagine what he would look like. Would he favor his father or his mother more in appearance? (1)

Thankfully his son had always wanted to be a pirate and found something of a role model when he was young. He had briefly wondered who when he heard that, but that was quickly solved with a tug on her own red hair, and her teaching the rescued brats several sailing songs.

That explained that, even though it explained nothing else. She was young, but he had yet to meet someone who was able to debate politics and philosophies at his level who wasn't born into that world, much less have her other skills considering her age.

If she had picked that up then he wasn't being exactly subtle then. She was a bit too cheerfully oblivious that at times he had wondered how she ever got anything requiring seriousness get done. Then Dragon would remember all those years back during the fire in Goa when she had to be like ten. Trapped within the city's high walls, hostile guards, separated from Ace and Luffy, and stuck with Sabo who was far less help in escaping as he was a walking target. She certainly was a born leader and strategist with the daring to make the impossible possible. She even had that rare gift called faith.

Then he'd remember that she was the daughter of a Yonko and so she was able to take care of herself. She was certainly born to an equally scary woman or someone who was at least able to interest Shanks and was trusted by him enough for a sexual relationship. A surprising number of rookies and idiots were trapped by their own libidos ever year.

Also he'd remember that said Yonko was once a member of Gol D. Roger's crew and like Roger he was generally pleasant enough. Shanks was generally less temperamental than the Pirate King -even if he did hold grudges or so rumor said. He was far less flashy though. It seemed that his daughter could be equally subtle if not more so –something that she had to acquire from her mother as there wasn't even a rumor that Akigami had procreated.

Then he'd remember that while Roger had destroyed a country's army single handedly for slandering his crew -Akagami Shanks had obliterated a marine base and the island it was on for some reason that involved one of his crew. Rumor had never specified what except for the fact that Shanks had yet to get that angry since (2).

This was also the cause of him becoming one of the Yonko as he had also been the cause of the loss of an Admiral and several other high-ranking officers. His usual carefree smile had been one of vengeance and retribution that day or so hearsay went. For the most part, he was one of the 'nicest' pirates around until someone messed with what was his. That particular hidden incident had made him one of the four most wanted pirate captains in the world. It had also propelled him into numerous other 'adventures.'

The World Government and then the Marines had obliterated the existence of that particular base from the pages of history by the convenient explanation of natural disaster. It was an apt analog to such destruction.

It made him wonder what would happen if the daughter of one of the Yonko ever truly got angry. It wasn't likely to be pretty.

Too bad he couldn't use this at the moment to further his cause, and the world's cause!

It only also took several months of random visits for him to notice that she had avoided notice.

* * *

It took a few more visits spread out over the next year for him to notice that she had avoided notice of anyone she _didn't want to see her_.

Even though she had avoided any notice that he knew of by the World Government and the ever perusing marines she wasn't a pushover. Even so, she never said no to any particular training or sparring session either. His father's crazy ideas of what constituted as training had been passed on, somewhat. She at least had clear goals, expectations and results from each little 'game.' From what he observed was less life-threatening than what he cared to remember from his childhood but just as effective.

At first he and Iva had watched the spars from sheer curiosity although they knew she was skilled. You can hide strength but not skill. This was of course before Iva went to Impel Down.

She in particular projected no obvious aura of strength or anything –beyond the one that turned nearby Den Den Mushi into vicious little finger biters- but she still managed to take down a number of their members without a problem. So while those members got placed into the infirmary with the notice of having to go through more training sessions, they brought in more progressively stronger members.

That was when they found out that she had the best control over her haki that they had ever seen or heard of –especially for her young age. She was in her later teens, but precisely where he had never asked. When she was eventually pressed to actually use it to the full extent of her ability meant that she had a small problem holding back.

Things _broke_.

Shredded or shattered was a better way of describing it.

Haki was usually translated as ambition or will. It had the power to annul the powers of the devil fruit and attack the substantial body of any particular devil fruit user. Her only slightly noticeable fondness for word-play allowed him to remember the other way that haki could be spelled. One meant ambition and aspiration. The second was revocation, annulment and breaking. Usually, the word haki was used to mean 'breaking.'

He hadn't known it was possible to break laws of physics like that in a contained area beyond the effects of a devil fruit. Dragon was rather sure that anyone with less power than the _average_ Vice-Admiral would have trouble even with her at only half-power or less.

She possessed a finer measure of control over her haki than most people would ever gain with even a lifetime's experience. Even at the point of irrational anger she could still use both Busoshoku and Kenbunshoku haki at the same time, or so he was informed in a casual, 'I don't care if this gets out' style comment which said volumes more about her competency and confidence and the fact that she knew how much information he had about her.

Being able to do both also meant that she could do pin-point and explosive amounts of damage while being aware of where best to strike for maximum effect and when and how fast to dodge any retaliation.

Anyone that managed to push her to seventy percent of her ability or above could easily end up crippled or maimed unless they were better defending with haki than she was with her ability to attack them using haki.

It seemed like it would go down to a contest of strength but in truth no defense was perfect and she was better than anyone he had ever heard about when it came to using just the right amount of haki to attack with and still be able to use it so she could be sensing her environment. She was beyond anything he had ever heard of when it came to using observational haki.

Especially when you considered that her range for breaking the laws of physics was only limited to the area she could accurately sense and how much energy she could feed into the attack. Her sensing range easily dwarfed smaller islands, and provided she actually felt like it-she could extend it far beyond that at the cost of accuracy. Considering how accurate that was, she was easily able to eavesdrop on a whispered conversation from several miles away.

In short, it was highly unlikely that if she went all out and wasn't in the mood to care about bloodshed that the corpses of her enemies would resemble something more than ground beef with the possibility of being cooked from the inside out.

She was _good_. And _young_. And _determined_. And she believed that there was always room for _improvement_. She'd get _better_.

It was also something he didn't want to face without figuring out how to counter it. Before then, neither he nor Iva had even thought of using haki that way –nor did they particularly want to after they had witnessed that incident that had more or less only left the sea stone hull of what was formerly a Marine ship.

They did get a large amount of sea stone from it though -even if she did take a large portion of it for herself. He had no idea what she wanted to do with it, nor did he want to.

He did enjoy the contribution of it to the revolution though.

He could and he wanted fight her –not just spar, but _fight_- but they had other obligations so if they had to fight it would be at another time.

Her preciseness and skill at being unnoticed combined with high intelligence… Those were skills that made her the assassin her instincts and a number of her skills said she was even without the formal training for such a thing. Taking into account whose daughter she was, Dragon then knew what would happen if she ever got truly angry with someone.

He almost felt pity for those poor fools. There was no certainty that she'd make it quick or painless.

* * *

The revolutionaries were particularly glad that she liked being a front line 'fighter' more than an assassin or a fatal accident specialist.

Anyone remotely intelligent could put two and two together and guess that the quickly rising in notoriety bounty hunter Benihime and their sporadic visitor were one in the same. Not that she didn't purposely confuse anyone and throw them wide off her trail. Benihime was considered to be in her mid-twenties, something she wasn't close to approaching that for a half decade at least.

However the most important part in putting those two facts together was _noticing_ her in the first place.

* * *

Two years after he had learned about that, Dragon learned that not only was she a natural to the field of assassination, she was damn good at arranging those fatal and tragic accidents. She was really damn good at it. To the point that it was believed that those deaths were because of luck or circumstance.

It was only by complete and utter accident that he had learned about that. Before that, he had thought those deaths were unfortunate but completely natural. He was sure and knew that the world was better off without those people around so he didn't say anything about that.

He did learn a particular fact then. She kept her 'aura' to the one that offended Den Den Mushi on purpose. That aura prevented them from doing their 'jobs' correctly so she was 'invisible' to Den Den Mushi surveillance.

He had also never met a person that was that damn camera shy before. A camera being out meant that she _bolted _out of sight or the camera was destroyed unless she knew that the photo was _horrible_.

Given the illegality of some of the things she got up to –it was little wonder why she avoided notice.

* * *

It was three years and twenty or so visits after he had first learned her name that she brought the blond boy he had first seen her with out to visit. He had long since learned that his name was Sabo of the Top hat pirates.

He was able to deduct things like that after all.

He wasn't that dense.

It was then that he was introduced to a man who would prove invaluable to the revolution and would with time prove to be his true successor so that the heart and dream of the revolution wouldn't die with him as he had feared it would for several years now. He wasn't planning on dying until he had succeeded and that would still take time. He knew when he started the revolution that it would be a lifetime of work and then some.

It was in that amount of time that would cement the fact that she would be an excellent stand-in and not revolution's true leader –however beneficial her plans and ideas would be. He had implemented a few of them and they worked well enough. She just didn't have the patience for everything that leading the revolution entailed –she had her own agenda after all.

* * *

Despite knowing her for years and about Sabo for a while didn't stop the introductory conversation between the three of them from being awkward however. During the short amount of time they had spent together, Monkey D. Dragon had found that she enjoyed embarrassing people. Not to horrific levels, but enough to make them highly uncomfortable.

"Blue-boy, meet the mean Dragon-man behind the revolution." She said with her usual nonchalant and carefree attitude as she man handled a blond in a top hat decorated with goggles towards him. He was also wearing a swallow tail coat the same color of his hat, well-made pants and boots and a scarf.

"Nice ta meet cha' Dragon, sir." He replied with a cheeky salute. Dragon stared. The blond was only a little past his eighteenth birthday at most.

He had obviously made an impressive impression all those years ago. He wasn't that scary to kids then, after all, Dragon decided.

"Now explain your dream." The red head demanded of the blond. She was currently incognito to most of the other revolutionaries wearing a dress and looking cute. Dragon had no idea how that fooled most people. But it did.

"Isn't that kinda personal to explain to someone you just met?" The blond responded to the redhead's question.

"You're the one that cried all over him that time and revealed that you hated the station you were born in. Hard to be more personal than that." She replied, dismissing his concerns with a waving hand and an air of ennui.

Dragon mentally agreed with what she said.

Sabo blushed. "That was him?"

The red head gave Sabo a flat look.

"So which dream were ya talking about?" Sabo asked.

"I was speaking about your dream of writing a book to inspire kids around the world so that there could be a revolution in thought. Were you thinking about other kinds of dreams instead?" She teased with a grin.

That grin spelled trouble. That grin, Dragon had learned, was not a good sign. She was a consummate tease.

"A little over a year away from Goa and the world has already corrupted you." She sighed after that, but she was still grinning. "Were those dreams any good?" She asked getting in front of his face with an innocent and far too curious expression. The pigtails probably helped.

Sabo blushed and sputtered numerous denials before going into a rant that ended with a command to stop spending so much time with that ero-bunny.

Dragon had no idea who that was nor was he particularly curious.

She had ignored the rant with ease. That took practice. What an _odd_ relationship these two shared.

"Don't ask about those things in public, please?" The blond begged, clearly embarrassed.

"Sabo isn't being any fun, so I'll stop." She complained. It was probably the closest he'd get to an apology and the blond noble knew that.

"Why is the book important?" Dragon asked to get the two on topic and remind them that he was even there.

"For a revolution in reality to occur there has to be a revolution in thought! Thought first means that they have to be exposed to new ways of thinking, so that they can analyze and think and reflect about it! Well, if they ever bother to reflect or think about it." She muttered the last statement.

"Cynic." Sabo quipped.

"Realist." She replied without missing a beat. "What matters is that they'll be exposed to new ideas! What better way to do so than through books and stories! Something tangible to give will and ways to others through the written word! The war against ignorance lives on!"

She really was far too excited about this meeting, Dragon decided. Had someone let her into the candy that had been donated to them?

"Red, you're far too excited about this, ya' know?" The blond deadpanned.

"Probably." She admitted, calming down considerably. "I also thought about how to get the revolutionaries more funding as they need supplies and such constantly with your help blue-boy." She said in such an innocent way. The innocence was emphasized by the pigtails and she was dressed in a way that could be considered cute.

Dragon had also learned that being or looking innocent meant that someone was either being manipulated or conned. Often both.

"How?" Dragon asked. He ignored the fact that said blond was also confused. It didn't bode well.

"Sabo writes rather decent porn." She said bluntly.

The blond blushed, and angled his hat so that the shade of its rim hid his face.

Dragon felt like joining the blond in blushing, but schooled his face to its usual fierceness and focused on something else. He would like to live on something other than what they could hunt, scavenge and the donations from various supporters. It would be nice.

"Would it sell?" He asked. That was crucial part of this idea after all.

"It's better than Darling Cruel's novels. (3)" She replied. "Just needs to get out and get published."

Dragon knew about those books. Unfortunately what was seen or heard couldn't be unseen or unheard. Or unread. That bit of information was all that he needed to know about how Iva and the red head managed to get along –beyond discussing fashion, make-up and things he did not want to know about.

Bonding over porn.

Dragon reminded himself that this was the Grand Line he was sailing in and that it _was_ Iva that he was thinking about. "I wouldn't know, nor do I want to know more. We do need those funds though, so go get published –both of them."

"I don't think I could do so under my name..." The pirate known as 'Gentleman' Sabo told her.

"That's what pennames are for! Besides, if you do well that means you can get on the bestseller list, become a very well-known author and rake in the beli!"

"That'll work until the World Government decides to take me in for writing revolutionary propaganda and philosophies that don't match theirs. Then they'll try and probably find out who really wrote them. That'll eventually lead back to me and..." He seemed rather disheartened by this before he perked up. "That'll make me more wanted that Ace! Ha! Take that!"

"Yes, and then I foresee books burning and being placed on a forbidden books list." The red head replied in a tone designed to rip dreams and aspirations to shreds.

"Damn." The blond replied.

"Penname for the fiction and real name for the philosophy? Maybe a few anthologies of various stories you've picked up with your real name as well. You've always been a sucker for those. Besides, those forbidden books sell for massive amounts on the black markets and they sell like hotcakes. Not that I've ever really seen the point of that phrase. You can't put icing on a hot cake without it melting and…"

Dragon heard the red head speak in a normal conversational tone. She still tended to ask odd questions.

"That'll work." Sabo cut it to the young redhead's rambling. "Do you know of a good publisher?"

"For the philosophy, the anthologies, the fiction or the porn?" She asked.

"RED!"

"Dahahaha!"

"Just get it done." He commanded.

He then decided to leave the pair alone. They seemed like they needed it.

They were crazy like that.

He ignored the voice in his head that sounded like Iva who was reminding him that he was also crazy.

* * *

A/N; Dragon still doesn't feel exactly right. Need more info on him but I like him here anyway. His b-day is October 5th which makes him a Libra. I find that fitting.

The revolutionaries truly get active during the time-skip but we still know nothing about how, what, who and a number of other questions. Makes writing about them _at all_ to be a very_ annoying_ process. Gah!

As for Aki, she's only visited Dragon and co. enough to form a loose allegiance and share information. She has her own goals after all. Red/Aki manages who knows what _very carefully._ You can't pull a 'prank' on the world if the whole world knows. Hence why Luffy and a number of people know who Benihime is, but not everyone. Everyone hasn't quite connected the dots yet. I even hinted why they haven't in this chapter and a few others. In comparison _very few_ know who Valentine is. The few that know she's both can be counted on two hands with fingers left over.

1. Dragon hasn't seen Luffy since who knows when. Like infant-hood. I believe that Luffy takes after his mom in his face since both Garp and Dragon have square-ish faces and narrow eyes. Luffy's is round in bone structure and he has round, large eyes. The personality is purely from his father's line with a bit of Shanks influence here and there.

2. Yeah, Gol D. Roger was badass. Shanks is also badass. According to OP wiki, the Yonko are the 4 most wanted Pirate Captains in the world because they are powerful/threat to the world/whatever. As a side effect of being that powerful they tend to gain a bit of territory that they oversee and protect. The side effect of Shanks being Shanks? He's probably the 'nicest' Yonko and most powerful after Whitebeard died. Maybe the newest chapters will clear up what's what.

3. Books do exist in OP. However few are named and so I had to pull out an author's name out of thin air. Darling Cruel is what came up.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N; Last Sabo chapter! Yay! This would be a month and a few days behind Chapters 12, 13 and 14 chronologically. It seems like I have a habit of this with Sabo...

Ace is 20. Aki is 21. Sabo is 19/20. Luffy is 16.

**3/16/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 21: Viva La Revolution!

"People are really despicable creatures aren't they?" The woman next to him said.

Sabo heard one of his crew and fellow revolutionary say this and he knew that they meant, 'Why?'

Sabo didn't know why. He doubted anyone did, truly he did. As much as he had distanced himself from what he had been born as –he knew how a personal grudge could mutate into a feud with ease. A legacy and lesson learned from infancy, from being born noble. He had later learned that hatred and ignorance and antipathy could further twist itself into justification for all sorts of atrocities. People could be horrible to each other without ever knowing why.

"Stories of suffering and survival give way to stories of strength and hope. We'll _make _it happen." He replied in a muted and slightly bitter tone although no less commanding. This was a conversation that was all too familiar to him. He loathed the fact that this sort of conversation was _needed_.

Their conversation was one that had been repeated through the ages with various faces and features differentiating each one from another. This he knew and he could feel it in his soul –the part of him that was the chronicler, writer and story-teller. It was beyond a mere tragedy that it had been repeated by so many people through the ages. This sort of conversation really _was _far too familiar for him.

That's not to say that he hadn't seen some or been part of some wondrous things over the years, but they tended to be fewer in number than the tragedies. Especially now that he was out in the world.

Since he had started working with or -depending on whom you asked- for the revolutionaries nearly two years ago he had seen the depths that people would sink to. People could pretend to be as civilized as they liked but that didn't hide the fact that they were beasts at heart. Noble blood and heritage didn't make a person any less of a person. Push a person far enough and they would become a beast. No questions asked. When it came to surviving, people had no qualms about ravaging each other. Tame that beast and dress him in clothes, teach 'em manners, how to reason enough to eke out a living and call them people. Sabo knew that this didn't always happen –he had seen some impressive sacrifices done for others and knew of more, but he was cynical enough now that he knew that not everyone had that sort of capacity.

"The world is truly an unfair place isn't it Captain?" Another man asked.

Sabo knew that what he was really asking was, 'what's the point?' There was a point to his work, to everyone's work. So what if they might not see it? It _was there_. It was worth fighting and politicking for. It was worth all the sleepless nights, the suffering, the paranoia, the pain and the sorrows.

There was no way he was letting such a sentiment stand! Not in his crew and not in any of these brave revolutionaries he was in charge of! Not on his ship!

"The world that we _inherited_ is an unfair place where freedom, justice and equality are just empty words and platitudes to keep us with our heads and hearts bowed to their corrupt and twisted authority, and that's why we have to change it! If not us, then who will? Do you want a world where a child would be called trash, unworthy to live, to be denied the right to exist because of their parents?" Sabo questioned, as he recalled the suffering that was inflected on Ace as a child.

Ace's childhood, while rough, wasn't entirely horrible either. That was simply because the majority of people didn't know who his father was. If they did, then they'd change their tunes quickly and Ace would likely have never made it to ten years old, much less adulthood. The late Pirate King had made the world go crazy as he died and the people of it beyond irrational even twenty years after his death. Rumors of a child only added to the chaos which cost thousands upon thousands of lives. People who didn't even know who they were damning or plotting to torture and kill said child in horrific ways –if said child ever existed, which he did- and then they would have the gall to say that the child deserved it because of his father and what Roger 'did' to the world. Roger did not kill all those people who died in the wake of those rumors, but he was the cause of it. There wasn't a way for people to choose who they were born to after all. Sabo also had no doubt that those same people would be singing a different tune if Roger was alive. Sabo saw that cowardice as a failing of humanity.

"Where someone can order another to die because of the name of their bloodline?" He called. He had been to Sabaody.

Sabo knew the atrocities that were perpetuated under the name of justice and mercy. It was not justified to send someone into slavery on a whim, nor was what awaited them a mercy. Male or female it didn't matter. Everyone that wasn't a Tenryubito was sub-human to them. People became playthings, or expensive toys for any sick games or twisted ideas or hobbies that they entertained. Gladiator fights to the death, rape, bodies to play with for those more scientifically inclined, people to be tortured for those sadistically inclined, entertainment, those to serve, those to be worked to death, and innumerable other atrocities against humanity. It was at Sabaody that he learned that Red had more than a point about her various aliases and disguises since people there could be picked up while walking down the streets and made slaves according to the Tenryubito's whims. Red was a pretty and a highly capable woman. Of that there was no doubt. It just made her a more valuable target.

It was also at Sabaody where he had learned that she really was far more reckless than she appeared and far more cautious too. Her nakama, prideful as they all are and for good reason, were far more over-protective of her than they first appeared.

Sabo had told Red that night spent partying with the Dark King nearly two years ago now, that she really just should raise her own colors and get it over with. The main reason they hadn't become a fearsome pirate crew –yet- could be summed up in a few words –they were enjoying what they were up to far too much.

It still didn't stop some of her nakama from having bounties of their own. Knowing Red's planning capabilities first hand as collaborator and victim, when she actually got around to doing so, it was because she had everything in place to where becoming a wanted world class felon wouldn't affect her at all. After all, it's not like she hadn't committed various crimes -she just hadn't gotten caught.

"Where people are granted authority based on their circumstances of birth? To use and abuse as they see fit? Nepotism of the worst kind?" Sabo asked as he scowled.

This was a statement that was pure Red. She could honestly wish and deliver someone to die a painful death for _incompetence_ alone. Class didn't matter to her. Bloodlines didn't matter to her. Ability mattered. She was utilitarian like that. Her nakama were good like that or working to get there and by good he meant _damn good_. Those few that had bounties on their heads had them for a reason. The fact that Red was a bounty hunter didn't truly matter to those few actually. It wasn't like she was obligated to hunt everyone with a bounty on their heads. Her nakama ran the gamut of personalities, looks, philosophies and even species considering Red's cat, but they were clearly nakama even though such a collection of people would never have crossed paths, much less become nakama without Red –except for the group she referred to as the kleptomaniacs. They were already nakama when Red recruited them. Red's nakama were highly skilled, highly versatile and intelligent individuals. Sabo knew from meeting them, that given a little warning and enough time that there was very little they couldn't do or learn how to do to make even the craziest schemes possible –and Red knew it, even if she would never abuse it.

Then again, considering how damn _dangerous_ a game she played and Sabo knew that he only knew a small part of what was going on… all that skill was needed. Whatever she was planning from the bits and pieces he had inferred from her made him shiver. Red was not setting the game up, as much as the players of the game while still being on the board herself.

"Remember for change to truly occur the very world and the very fabric of society has to change! One person, one place, one moment at a time!"

That statement just reminded him that the revolution was just moving slowly, and steadily creeping and moving forward in its goals. The true goals of the revolution and the World Government propaganda were two very different things.

"Aye, aye, Captain!" They chorused back, now primed for the operation ahead.

He had to wonder, what did he ever do to deserve such wonderful people in his life? Although, they certainly had their flaws too.

"Get to work already! Prime those sails! Extinguish those lights! We've got a limited window here to do our part!" He told them so that they would get a move on.

He really didn't want to deal with any officials of the Gorosei tonight.

* * *

Sabo wanted sleep. He needed it. After saving people from a potential massacre in the works –thankfully they listened to him, not that some people didn't die anyway- he still had to get everyone situated, comfy enough to not cause problems and then there was the debriefing as they left or fought for the room to leave. Grunts could be remarkably persistent about things like that.

Sometimes all three had to occur at the same time.

Sabo hated when that happened.

It meant something went wrong.

It wasn't out of the realm of possibility, even now. He had dealt with it before. He didn't like to deal with it though. No one did.

Thankfully that didn't occur –this time. Even though the revolutionaries were now able to actually _do something_, they still had many 'rescue' missions such as this. He was just the one that was closest enough to have to deal with it this time. Scenes like Gray Terminal were surprisingly _common_ throughout the world. Not everywhere thankfully, but more common in places that were on technically neutral and unallied terms with the World Government, who were hoping for an alliance into the World Government for the benefit of more marine services and other political benefits such an alliance would bring instead of being a protectorate state.

The name of 'World Government' was actually a misnomer, but a highly effective_lie_. There were unallied and unaffiliated nations around the world who had either thrown off the rule of the World Government or were never bothered with in the first place or who had made it too costly to bring into the fold. Wano, a place he had never been to, was one of those.

The islands that massacres like Gray Terminal would have been, were most common on islands like that of Goa –practically insignificant and common with no special trade goods or services. Having a Tenryubito endorse Goa or other similar islands into the World Government would get the island to have a higher marine presence and thus be a deterrent to pirates and other unlawful individuals. It also gave the island, or more significantly, the people ruling the island _power_ for good or for ill.

Sabo shook his head to clear out the reminiscing and focus on the debriefing. Not that the head shaking helped. His mind was stuck in reminiscence and musing mode since this afternoon. Which while not bad, wasn't the best thing for his mind to be focusing on.

Having the mad world of politics and business explained to him by Red was eye-opening and brain-breaking and mind-twisting all at once, although having Dragon sitting in to Red's presentation and making pointed comments about certain points didn't help. Several commonly held delusions and his own precious few illusions about the world and how it was run were destroyed in a casual tone outlining facts, reasons and recent history. It made such horrific sense and twisted something seemingly good policies into something so horrible that killed people without apology, were things he didn't want to actually think about or even consider once he heard them. Red didn't let him dwell happily in denial either.

Hell. The fact that it happened and people didn't know or become terrified due to ignorance terrified him. People really weren't all that politically savvy, and were for the most part, _disinterested_ in anything that didn't directly affect them. These disinterests lead to a cultured ignorance. Ignorance about the power plays, the ongoing struggles on the stage that was the world, and what deals were going on behind the curtain.

Self-interest and greed were powerful motivators to those with power and that disinterested person didn't care or even know that they were being victimized. Those that had both self-interest and greed who were lucky enough to have power screwed so many people over, every day in little ways that the number of victims and the money made was uncountable. Sure, not everyone ruler or noble or whoever was going to do it, but they had the ability to do so.

As Red had simplified it for him –and provided an example for him of the understood social contract, ethics and the mess that trying to make any sort of real justice a morass of conflicting grays.

He tightened his fist and focused on the debriefing going on. They had gotten to the point of detailing how many they had saved and in what condition they were in. Some were in horrible shape. That wasn't anything new, but it was noteworthy. These people did nothing but want better for themselves and their children! Why was that so WRONG? Why was it SINFUL? What right did the World Government and others in power have to say to these people that they would be better off dead and unmourned?

It all went back to that explanation that shattered more than a few of his world views. Ethics were the moral principles that govern people's behavior. Ethics was also the moral correctness of these views, depending on who you asked. Ethics and morals and 'true justice' were freaking complicated (1).

It was also during that explanation was why he also learned why Red and Dragon were rather friendly with each other, although he wouldn't call them friends. Acquaintances, for sure, and Red was a sympathizer to the cause, of that there was no doubt -but friends? No. Political debate between the two of them was beyond interesting to watch, but hard on the heart. Devil's advocate was something that they each played far too well as they were constantly assessing each other's beliefs and ideologies.

She sympathized with his cause, provided supplies for the unfortunates at times and occasionally at cost to her, and she had no trouble providing information to Dragon although she was particularly mercenary about information. Her information network while small in comparison to a number of others was accurate, fast and subtle. Nothing was secret to them. Sabo had meant it when he said that Red's nakama were _good_. He just hadn't known that her various minions and allies were _that_ _good_.

In return she had someone to occasionally mooch off of and a place to return to, or more accurately crash for a few nights at a time. She also had another person to annoy, which could easily cause people to get the wrong idea about the awkward friendship-thing Red and Dragon had going and totally end up as a head case.

Or at least Sabo _hoped_ it was an awkward friendship-thing, instead of some obscure form of flirting and/or the awkwardness of two people who had a one night stand and then had to work together. That occasionally happened in the revolutionary army, and when both sides weren't professional about it, things got nasty. 'Cause his first thought was when considering the latter option was, 'Oh. Fuck. Me.' Sabo purposely didn't try to think about that. It was one thing to have participated in a few threesomes with Ace and Red before they had left, but it was another to think about who had gotten together with whom and what they were doing while together.

Then again, being a fine writer of smut, he might just be reading far too much into it and projecting his own desires onto the interactions he was seeing between them. Red aggravated and teased everyone.

Sabo really had no qualms about being a pervert –if the term even fit. He liked sex. He liked being a pirate and taking a tumble with a willing woman or even the occasional man. He wasn't that good at things called modesty or adhering to 'manly' roles all the time, not that any sailor who had to ever fix their sail would say anything about sewing or doctor who had to stitch someone back together would say that it was girly either. Sabo was sure that it was a product of having Red having him braid her hair too many times in complicated braids. Her little sister was not any better about it either (2). He wasn't about to peek on a woman, nor would he freak out if he happened to see more cleavage than he probably should have for common decency's sake. Red being rather shameless about the amount of clothing or lack thereof while crashing in their tree house along with the lack of societal influence from living in the woods had made him more than a little odd about several things by 'normal' standards (3).

The debriefing went on as usual. He kept his focus as he covered his yawn as one of his subordinates gave his report. He looked at his palm and wanted to scowl. That was just going to be another set of marks on his palms. It wouldn't be the first and it wouldn't be the last.

Working with the rebels was taxing all around. It taxed a person physically, mentally and spiritually. It was physically intensive work that required constant mental alertness for the survival of all around you. That was _not _including the amount of soul wrenching depravity that they found on a regular basis.

He often found his respect for the World Government and their dogs sinking to new lows. His mind wandered as he wondered when he'd find the absolute lowest point that his opinion of them could sink to, because surely it had to reach the bottom eventually. Then he caught himself and refocused on the meeting. His Doctor -Jazz- had sent a refugee to inform them that they were running low on a few medical supplies, and while they would last the voyage if rationed, they would need more later on. Jazz had a truly horrendous sense of time, but his timing was impeccable. His first-mate wrote the supplies down and figured out the projected costs of resupplying.

He paid special attention to the amount of funds that they had left. His fiction books did well, but they weren't world class literature read by everyone. They appealed to narrower markets. His anthologies of gathered stories of various people including infamous pirates however sold like mad and had even caused numerous fights over a copy –outlawed as they were. His reputation of gathering various tales, just meant that most knew that the tales were often from the source.

He didn't name any actual names or attach them to any particular story beyond the islands that they occurred on -finding out who did what was considered half the fun of the books as he had a list of people he had gathered the stories from published in the book as well. He had more people after him for those answers than for his bounty. That was actually rather impressive considering his bounty. He felt the need to smirk. Wait, pay attention Sabo. Meeting is in progress even if it is boring and sleep inducing.

So Sabo paid attention. If he had learned anything over the years –just because you weren't paying attention to something didn't mean that it wasn't paying attention to you. Inattention could kill.

* * *

Even after the meeting was over, he still had work to do. His books did make life for the revolutionaries easier for the most part when it came to what supplies could be purchased. Red owned the publishing house –which did not mean that he could hand over sub-standard work either as even several books later, his first draft was usually marked heavily with corrections and sometimes even in Red's own neat calligraphy about his grammar- and so was able to pass on the royalties for his 'legal' books and had numerous contacts in various markets, no matter how dark. He was by turns grateful and mortified. It made his own job was a bit more difficult as he had to dodge information seekers and admires.

Sabo also found it staggeringly amazing that Dragon had kept this movement together and was as successful as he was with such limited resources and people as at the beginning of the revolution it was more or less run out of his ship and a few others from what he had figured out. It spoke of Dragon's charisma that he was able to do such a thing and _succeed_. It spoke of Dragon's trust in him that he was trusted with missions like this and often more.

He had learned numerous things and facts while working with him and the revolutionaries. He had also learned why Red had invented Benihime. Some people really_ were_ that persistent. His long ingrained manners prevented him from kicking them off his leg when they were really clingy as they weren't trying to kill him. That's why he was grateful to his faithful crew -beyond getting rid of admirers who couldn't get a hint- even with all the weirdness around them for following him to the revolution run by Dragon.

Thinking of that man's, Dragon's charisma again, Sabo shook his head in order to resist the urge to sleep. It was little wonder why he was known as the 'Most Wanted Man in the World.' With Iva in Impel Down, Sabo had worked his way up to the point of trusted subordinate. His bounty wasn't as high as Ace's impressive 550,000,000 beli bounty. It was still a respectable sum of 440,000,000 beli.

He was getting there. He was really tempted to visit Ace and Whitebeard and get all those stories from them. He had already gotten a few off of Shanks and crew where he had the horrifying feeling that the Yonko and Red were closely related although he purposely didn't try to think how that happened at all. Makino hadn't left Goa in all the time he had known her and it wasn't like she was helpless either. She just didn't like using violence. That didn't mean that she couldn't be dangerous. He had learned that after Ace had left, but before he had turned seventeen. He had decided to escort Makino back to Fuusha from Dadan's camp and they had gotten caught in the middle of a wolf turf war. There were no canine survivors and it wasn't by his doing either. He had never gotten an explanation for the sudden death of all the wolves either. He decided to stop thinking about possibilities and focus again. Why was fighting off sleep harder than people?

Soon they'd be back at Baltigo. He shivered just thinking about that place which woke him up less than he'd like. Compared to Goa's tropical climate, Baltigo had him bundled up and next to a roaring fire with strong alcohol and pen in gloved hand –much to the amusement of his crew who were used to colder climes.

That island sometimes made him wish that he had Ace's logia powers.

He tried to psyche himself up with the fact that Red might be visiting again. She was often found on any Winter Island as herself. Benihime usually lacked that teasing edge that was pure Red. That was rather sad as he liked the lack of teasing more than the things she could insinuate and suggest. Benihime didn't have the silver tongue Red did, as Benihime was a far more cutting and cruel individual while being polite, if only barely at times. Benihime as a whole was a lot more direct and straightforward than Red was -even if they were the same person.

As Baltigo had no people but revolutionaries –she could easily be visiting again. It was a sign of how frequently that she visited and how valued she was for various bits and pieces of assistance here and there, that there was a room in one of the towers that was an aviary large enough for roc-hawks, but only two of them of the smaller species and one giant swallow from Salishaven. They birds were huge after all. Furthermore, that the aviary had someone assigned to it. That was her preferred method of fast travel for when she had to get somewhere faster than ship or Sea King could provide.

It just proved that Red was a genuine 'Kijo' at times.

"Captain?" He heard his musician Nala ask. She hadn't changed all that much since he first met her in East Blue. Her taste in colors remained as headache inducing as ever and as clashing as always. How a North Blue native ended up there, much less in that situation was an interesting story. It was a story that was now part of a popular three book series that he had written and published under a pen name like most of his fictional work. He twisted some facts, changed names and now it was a series slowly gaining popularity around the world. There were calls for a sequel series.

His anthologies and more serious works were written under his own name. It was little wonder why 'his' publishers did what they did –they claimed that they didn't actually print his books. They didn't want to get burned down for printing 'anti-government propaganda.' So officially he had no publisher for his anthologies and philosophies. In reality, Red took a cut for actually getting them out to market.

"What's up Nala? Ne~ed something?" Sabo yawned again. Damn he was tired.

"Jazz said for you to catch some sleep." She said.

"Jazz should listen to his own advice." He replied, thinking about the eccentric doctor of his.

"Jazz hasn't been diagnosed with a sleep disorder." She prodded him with a nail that was painted electric blue with green stripes that were so bright that he was sure that they glowed.

"Jazz should be thankful that I can function relatively well on 24 hour days instead of the 28 like my body says it is." He retorted. Really, everyone that he knew to be from East Blue's Dawn Island had some sleep disorder or so it seemed like. He mumbled, "There went my lack of sleep problems..."

"What cha' mean Captain?" She asked in a fashion he knew meant genuinely curious.

"Red functions better asleep than many people ever dream of awake. My older brother is severely narcoleptic while my younger is also narcoleptic but to a lesser degree."

"She sleeps?" Nala asked. It was a valid question, Sabo recognized after a few minutes.

Unlike the few times that she had crashed at Ace's ship while he was sailing under his own flag, she usually just visited them and that was only after their 'reunion' at Sabaody due to being busy. Her visits never really lasted longer than a few days but he would admit that it was hard as hell to catch Red asleep. She really was a demon if she was asleep as she could fight and react well enough that no one noticed that she _was _asleep. The only problem was after she woke up -she sometimes seemed like an airhead for forgetting a conversation that happened while she was asleep... He was surprised that he had never heard of any massacres that occurred while she was asleep. Then again, it wasn't like she confided in him all that much.

"Is your home island cursed Story-scribe?" A deep and musically accented voice asked.

Sabo turned to look, although he already knew who it was.

It was Ren who was also known as Remmy. He was over seven feet of pure muscle with darkly tanned skin. That was the first thing a person noticed about him in general. He was only wearing a pair of ragged but heavily patched pants and moccasin shoes. Sabo was actually rather sure that his pants were more patches sewn together than pants at this point, as were his other pants. His arms and upper chest were heavily tattooed in swirling hypnotic patterns and somewhat conflicting colors which did interesting things if looked at for two long. He also had wild dark hair that reached mid back and was decorated with tiny braids, beads and feathers. He also had wings. The wings were the feature that was usually noticed second. The double-takes were hilarious.

He was recently from Birkia and one of the sky peoples. He had a unique story too. Red had saved his life and a lot of people although the island was basically lost in the process. A number of the Birkians people had joined the revolutionaries in full, although a number more had not. A smaller number had stayed on what was left of Birkia or a nearby sky island for other reasons. All told, there were more people with wings out on the Grand Line thanks to her because she had saved them. Red had relocated those who wanted to live on the waters but not on a ship to an island that would agree with them but not any other people for a few reasons.

Most islands that were uninhabited on the Grand Line were uninhabited for a reason. Reasons that varied from being unable to sustain a large population to being unfit for human habitation to having some strange feature, animal or plant that made living there for the more normal folks impossible. A couple of islands were technically habitable, but the Grand Line's weather made them not.

Labyrinthos to Sabo's limited understanding of it, had crazy gravity shifts on a regular basis as the magnetic field fluctuated. It was in the New World so it fluctuated quite often and was rather unpredictable in its shifts. Gravity there could easy allow someone to walk on walls because that attraction was sideways instead of down or gravity could send them to a few floating bits of land far above that moved as the magnetic field did. Then the wind would blow and gravity would be multiple times normal and repel you. Another breeze to another part of the island would cause pieces of the island to shift and make gravity weaker than normal. In short, gravity was fractured there, if not just plain _broken_.

The constantly shifting pieces of land, fluctuating gravity and the numerous rings of shifting land treks that made up the island it was obvious why it was known as Labyrinthos. It was actually far more impressive once one realized that all of the 'rings' of Labyrinthos were technically 'different' islands. The outer ring was a spring island, the next was an autumn and perpetual windstorm, the third ring was unidentified but the icy rain that was ever falling hinted towards being of a winter nature. The conditions on each ring got progressively worse until the center was reached. There were nine 'rings' total and then the center of the island. Only the innermost area of the actively volcanic island had stable gravity. It was even near the normal amount, but according to Red the gravity for the center of the island, the gravity was weaker the higher one went and if a person went underground then gravity would increase. That part of the island Red had named Sanctum and she maintained a headquarters there.

Surprisingly, the land there was quite fertile and the plants had adapted to the crazy shifts of gravity. They could create bridges from one ring to the next or serve as ladders. A few were even capable of flight -even with the crazy gravity shifts. Most of the animals on Labyrinthos developed ways to not get torn or squished by the gravity there. The bovine like animals on the outermost ring seemed like normal cows, or so Sabo had been told, but they had strong cartilage instead of bone and other adaptions that made it possible for them to survive.

Labyrinthos was also one of Red's favored areas to train a.k.a. 'play grounds.'

It was little wonder why the Birkians and several others thought that Red was a genuine demon, although Ren thought that she was far too much like some Calagara guy. The shifting gravity of Labyrinthos could easily tear people apart, or squish them. That wasn't even accounting for her damn heavy sword.

"It might be the reason why it's called Dawn Island." Sabo admitted after a few minutes of fatigued thought making some sort of half-assed sense. An island wide curse? It was possible, but unlikely.

"Yes, that makes sense. Sleep ends with the dawn. Jazz wanted me to inform you that if your if you're not in your quarters and in bed and asleep by the next bell, then you are to be sent to sleep with what he said was the poor man's anesthetic."

"Such a bossy doctor I have." He commented aloud with a much put-upon look on his face.

"He only wants you to be at your best. We can't have such an important officer falling asleep during the important meetings and all that." Nala replied -pointing out the logic behind his doctor's wishes and teasing him at the same time.

"He does know that it isn't for another four weeks and can be done via Den Den Mushi?" Sabo asked with little amusement on his face. It wouldn't surprise him if Jazz didn't. Jazz had a horrible sense of time. Possibly the worst ever. Calendars and watches didn't get along with Jazz. Jazz had even said that it was 8 p.m. at two in the morning and other way off statements. At least he was aware of it.

"That so?" Ren asked. Sabo ignored the crack of the Birkian's knuckles. Despite his looks as a fist fighter -and he was capable of that- Ren was a sniper. He just wasn't used to how the Blues reckoned time and Jazz wasn't helping.

"Crazy Jazz's mind lost track of the time -again." Nala remarked with a sigh as she lifted up a necklace and started fiddling with the pendant on it.

"Damn." Another older and slightly grating voice cut in. "You sure?" That would be Jazz.

His doctor was in his fifties, going grey, slightly overweight and he looked like a quack. His sense of fashion did that to people after all. Who wouldn't look like a quack with pinstripe pants, geta style sandals, open purple shirt and two coats of clashing lime green and neon yellow? The neon yellow was under the green, which his tired eyes were thankful for. The natural light blue afro, long braided beard that was tied with a bright orange ribbon into a bow and star shaped green lensed glasses didn't help.

Jazz did know what he was doing though.

That was the important part. Even if the various patients might wish to be stricken blind temporarily. Sabo was moderately worried that all of his crew was color blind to wear such clashing and bright colors. He was also sure that it was a statistical impossibility, but it _could happen_.

"It's during the first week of April, and not all of us are attending in person. I'm hoping that we'll get back to base in time for my birthday so I can freeze and enjoy." Sabo replied.

"Captain's birthday is soon so we should start planning. You'll would be twenty then, right? What do you think of that Ren?" Nala asked the Birkian.

"He is still growing and needs his rest. To resist the call of sleep is to resist the healing that slumber brings." Ren was sadly the much needed extra voice of reason on his ship. Sabo still needed a few more of those -fashion sense aside.

"I thought the meeting was in August." Jazz admitted embarrassed.

Sabo -and not for the first time- felt like there was something very wrong with his Doc's sense of time –or at least his understanding of the calendar. He had actually tried to correctly inform Jazz of how the calendar went and such but failed.

Not feeling like dealing with his crew's antics he shooed them out into the hallway and out of the gallery where the meeting had took place. Once out in the hall he walked past them and into his room, and locked the green door behind him.

He took off his hat and shoes and fell into slumber as soon as he hit his bed. He had long since mastered the art of ignoring the various sounds and noises all around him.

* * *

He woke up fourteen hours later to similar noise and his breakfast was taken along with the various complaints of the newest refugees.

He sometimes wished he had Ace's powers. The power to make charcoal on the fly to quell seasickness of some of those refugees would make things easier. It would spare his nose and his clothes. Kids needed to learn to throw up overboard and not on him.

* * *

Red was back when they were finally at Baltigo. Of course, not where she was expected, but that wasn't all that unsual. They had gotten back three days before his birthday and he was rather ecstatic to see her. She had met some very interesting people and usually introduced them to him. That's how he met interesting people like Dark King Silvers Rayleigh, his boss and Ren.

He was right when he had warned Silvers Rayleigh over the folly of chasing Benihime around for tossing her tab onto him on his eighteenth birthday. She managed to do so multiple times during that ill-fated chase and had numerous feats attached to the name Benihime which had earned her a few places in his anthologies -this was one of them although no one had guessed who was involved in that particular story.

Ren had given one of those stories himself about her although anyone who sailed in the new world knew that something had happened on Birkia and caused numerous of its inhabitants to migrate away from Birkia that involved the bounty hunter known as Benihime. He was the only one who had an accurate account of that, although it was from Red but from Ren, so things might be inaccurate anyways.

Ren was best described with the three words. He was strong, strange and suspicious.

He also thought Red was a guardian demon. Red was a genuine demon –at times. Like now. He had just returned to his quarters and found Red there, with hair still wet from a shower. His shower. What was she doing in there?

Seeing as how he could still smell the blood on her told her that she had recently been hunting someone that had done something that she found reprehensible. Benihime usually took care not to get bloody. When she was herself she took care to not get seen. When she was pissed she was rather apathetic to the blood and death as his winged friend attested to. When she was that way was when she was so angry that her anger had reached past hot and into cold. There were reasons why he and a few others that knew her believed that she was a genuine demon at times.

His happiness shattered and reformed into worry.

"Who the hell pissed you off?" He asked.

"An old guy that I didn't want to kill because that would make someone we both know pissed. So I worked off my anger by doing something productive."

"Productive?" Productive could mean a lot of things from Red. Old guy that would piss off someone if he died? Red didn't care for many people enough to consider their feelings, so it wasn't a political mess… Ah, that meant Ace which meant Whitebeard. What had made her want to kill the guy? Sabo didn't ask for confirmation though. Headquarters or not, and curiosity not withstanding, self-preservation bid him to not ask for clarification. So he needed another topic.

"What'cha get me?"

"We'll have sea king for your birthday celebration. He tried to eat me."

So there were still sea kings out there that hadn't gotten the memo about not further pissing of Red when she was in a bad mood? He wanted to feel sad for it, but he couldn't.

Red might be a genuine demon –but she did know how to give gifts. He had been craving sea king recently.

She was family after all -even if they didn't share blood.

"So how many fans threw themselves at you since the last time I visited?"

Control the blush Sabo. Go with the madness. "For which book?" He asked confidently. "And tell me why you're using my shower while you're at it."

"The latest anthology of course, and stupid busted pipe. Have the walking eye-sores you call your crew managed to kill your brain to a degree that you can't figure that out?"

* * *

A/N; Yeah, Sabo doesn't know about her being Valentine. Actually the number that does is remarkably low. Also, a hint that the meeting between Whitebeard and Aki didn't go all that well even though they still celebrated well enough. They don't quite see eye to eye on a few things –but a lot of that is generation gap sort of stuff and to be expected.

1. _Ethics are complicated_. Go read the Wikipedia article and look them up and see which type of ethics you follow or believe in. While you're there, look up the social contract and its flaws. Then you can go to justice theory which is supposed to address the flaws in the social contract by working to make the world more fair and just. Supposedly. I wonder who came up with the idea of 'Absolute Justice' and really just what it entails.

2. No offense, but being raised away from society means that Sabo doesn't fit into the 'normal man' category. So to the rather conservative, Sabo is radically liberal as no one has informed him that he was supposed to react that way, much less that acting in such a way is 'wrong.' Let's put it this way –when Luffy befriends Mr. 2, he does so whole-heartedly. He thinks that Mr. 2 is weird, but not 'wrong' for being an okama. Sanji on the other hand, when sent off by Kuma arrives in 'hell.' He sees himself as a gentleman, and being an okama is an utterly repulsive idea to him.

3. While OP has large amounts of Japanese influence, some things irregardless of society are not to be done -like young women aren't meant to be half-naked around young men, unless they're in swimsuits. It's a matter of privacy, intimacy and intent, which is why women are fine being seen in a bikini, but freak when seen in their underwear. However, Aki has lived in the wizarding world since she was eleven –the same world that has been developing alongside the muggle world. Culture shock is expected about the strangest things and even the years immersed in OP, doesn't mean that she knows all the social taboos and dos or don'ts –or that she cares for them since to her, they don't make any sense.

The wizarding world has always been parallel to the muggle world to some degree, and until the industrial age –more advanced. Strange thing to think about huh?

Fast personal transport –broom or floo. Fast group transport –portkey or carpet. Fast shipping –portkey. Fast communication –floo, enchanted objects, even owling. There's a reason we call it 'snail mail' now that we have the Internet and e-mail. Magical healing far surpassed that of the muggles until modern medicine started to develop –about fifty, sixty years ago and in several ways, still surpasses modern medicine. It was leeches, tonics and quack doctors before that, and then it was going to the hospital was saying that 'I'm going to die.' Magical plumbing has existed for millennia (remember the Roman baths? Those were muggle works. Those silly muggles. Don't they realize that lead is poisonous?) while it has only become common place in developed countries for the last century. In a lot of places that the British once ruled over, attire is still pervaded by Victorian-era influence. While in recent decades, that has faded (and there are numerous people out there that should not be wearing shorts that short) it still exists. Now here is a head-twister –_the wizarding world never went through the Victorian-era –the moral and ethics and philosophy of it anyways;_ for all that it looks and seems like a cross between medieval and Victorian-era to the unaware. However, _looks to be__ and __is this way_, are two different things.

By Merlin! Men wearing dresses and just that would be a little strange to magicals. Men doing the same in the 1990's by muggle standards were degenerate cross-dressing fags that needed to be fixed or just die for the betterment of society. The same applies to homosexuals and other supposedly degenerate lifestyles. That's not to say that magical society is perfect (because people are people), but when it comes to lifestyle choices, they have no complaints about whoever doing who or what except on a personal basis. Even Molly only told Bill that he was looking like a ruffian and asked him to let her cut his hair. Fleur, she snubbed and didn't get along with, but that was more on Fleur being French and Molly thinking that she was a shallow bitch and her being ill-suited for Bill, than her being part-veela.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N; It was hard as hell doing this interlude... that was before my OP manga binge in prep for Luffy's Arc. Luffy is surprisingly hard but fun to write.

More Aki who's always fun and rather helpful. This chapter got re-written a few times.

Ryoko is part of the reason that this fic is M and if MA was allowed she'd be part of the cause of this fic being MA. Her dialogue is hard as I'm trying not to cross too many lines and she ignores all of them... I think I failed even though I did censor some of it out. No, I really did.

It is also surprisingly hard to find enough people to make a decent and cohesive crew without passing out devil fruit abilities like candy and over-powering the crew. Aki has an excuse of having a lifetime of magic and exp to fall back on. She's not completely over-powered though as she is still human.

Chronologically this is after Chapter 16 but before Chapter 18. The end of Chapter 10 hinted at some of this. This first lines of Chapter 18 says that she had more or less been busy for the year that she was 16 or so says Sabo's bitching.

Aki is 16.

**3/17/2013 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 22: The Obtaining of Chaos

"Oi Ryoko, how the hell did we end up about to get eaten by spidar?" Aki slurred while hanging from iron chains with a pounding headache that was inhibiting her focus so that her skill with magic and haki was worth a bucket of warm spit at the moment. She needed to be able to focus so as to break out or they needed to get a lucky break sometime soon. She didn't like relying on luck. As it stood she was having an intense feeling of deja vu about the spiders. Her head was pounding too much to place the when and where though. She felt that it involved Hagrid though.

"Those hopeless pirates stole our supplies and threw us down here in this brig, where we are currently chained up. They fail at being kinky though. Kinky needs a whip, leather, a gag and maybe some candle wax. Not spiders as I believe and the correct method for becoming spider food is being reduced to goo and drank. It certainly won't be the pleasant way to be lapped up." Ryoko replied with her usual amount of innuendo.

That Aki had learned was as often and as heavy as she could make it. She envied the poker face the strange silver haired woman had –ever present bunny ears or not. Aki still wasn't sure if those ears were fake or a partial zoan transformation. Only Ryoko could refer to BDSM practices with a straight face when they were captured and less than an hour away from becoming spider food.

Not that she planned to become spider food.

"No, before that." She specified while trying to get a timeline of events down. There was something messing with her and she was sure it was some sort of drug. The drug had the nice effect of giving her a hangover. A sever monster hangover. Being in the brig made it bearable.

"We pissed off the small and thick but rather inept pirate Captain with our refusal to join and be his personal love-slaves because he's clearly anal all the way, and I won't even consider anal without a very fulfilling relationship prior. Then we took out a number of his swarming soldiers that really are eunuchs that like to pretend that they're big bad and manly pirates. Then we got gangbanged by tranquilizers from that naughty doctor and nurse who you did kill. Did you know that you were fighting even when tranq'd? I was beginning to worry that you'd never join in this fun since you were gagged by Morphius and I didn't know the safe word."

Crazy bunny said what? It took a moment for her mind to translate what the older woman had said. Control freak pirate Captain and crew stole her stuff and she fought to get it back. The both of them got tranq'd and now were spider food for the moment. Why the lingering death at the eight-legs and eyes? Why not just kill them straight out?

"No, when we met up again." Aki said as the shock to her system allowed her to shake off the drugs quicker and think -even through the headache the tranquilizers gave her. The headache was the least of her problems at the moment. At least these spiders that were crawling all over everything weren't able to talk. She didn't mind spiders unless they were trying to eat her. Then she killed them.

"You told me it was a simple 'wam-bam, thank you Dan' and I joined you because you're cute. I had nothing better to do but sit and enjoy myself all by my lonesome although there are people who wouldn't like that. Silly prudes. Hmm... I really don't like you at the moment although you could help me more than these spiders could and I'd like you a lot more." Ryoko replied flirtatiously.

Aki re-affimed that she was dealing with someone whose libido dominated her thinking. At least she seemed selective about who she wanted to partner with and was not a rampaging nymphomaniac who fucked everything that moved. Aki had been propositioned by Ryoko far too many times. The reincarnated witch found that she was reaching the point where Ryoko was actually trying to get a blush out of her now.

"Oh, right. I don't like me either at the moment." She really didn't like her situation at the moment either. She was nearly three quarters wrapped up in spider silk although she still had use of her arms as they were chained to above her head and she had a bit of room to move them should she choose to. Little wonder Ryoko claimed that they were hopeless pirates. They really should have been wrapped up and liquefying already. "Do you know who we should really hate at the moment?"

"Who?" The elder asked.

"The Gunsmith. Brandon Heat." The younger said.

"Weren't you the one who wanted the gun made?" The elder asked.

"Can you stop poking logic shaped holes in my mad. I'm using that to focus on getting us out of here."

* * *

_Twenty-One Days Earlier_

"What do you mean that you can't fill this order? I thought that you were the best damn gunsmith in South Blue?" Aki asked, very much annoyed at the much older man.

He sadly was the best damn gunsmith in South Blue -and he was more or less retired from the business and living as far away from town as possible on the island. It made him a pain in the ass to find unless a person was used to tracking game and people through jungle. So she found tracking him down to be remarkably easy. That and the much shot up targets helped point the way for the far less adept.

"Yes, I am the best but in order to make something like this I need the materials and even then I'd need an excess of them so we could test the prototypes. I've never even heard of someone making a gun with seastone before so this'll be the first -if we could ever figure out how to use it. That's a World Government secret after all." The old man who was in remarkably good shape for his age of seventy something or above explained as he lit his pipe.

The only reason she didn't strangle him was for his reputation he had when he was younger. He was rather awesome when he was younger and he still was a damn good shot. The few grazes on her jacket said as much. At least she wasn't wearing her dress today. Two minutes after she had first shown up, one hundred and six rounds had been fired –and then she had to dodge several more while convincing him that she wanted a gun made.

"You're remarkably useless." Aki said flatly as she took a deep breath to calm down. "So what do you need?" She asked, while taking out a small notebook and pencil and preparing to write down what he said in order to get it done and over with.

"3 lbs. of tomatoes, some Julia pepper seasoned salted beef, 6lbs of Imperial rice, four heads of good lettuce, and two bags of those tiny carrots, a bushel of corn, a few squash and zucchini..." The old man listed.

Sadly, it took her until the carrots to stop taking down the list.

"I didn't ask for your shopping list old man." She stated as she started a staring contest with him. He broke away after less than a minute. She was tempted to use legilmency on him, but figured that was a bit much for a simple staring contest.

"But you're doing it anyway while I write down exactly what materials you need and in what quantities and quality you want it in as well." The gunsmith replied as he grabbed the blueprints and a pad of paper.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're an evil old man?" She asked.

"No one but my own children when I had them but I've never had a costumer that pick pocketed me when they were younger either." He replied.

That explained why he seemed familiar. Oops.

"I didn't recognize you since you went from silver to white! I'd also say I'm sorry but I'm not." She replied being honest. "I guess that means I really owe you then as I've used that revolver to kill a sea king that same year." She continued in a non-chalant tone.

"That's not quite possible little girl. A bullet couldn't get through the scales of a sea king." He replied in a chiding tone. "You shouldn't make up lies like that girl. What would your parents say?"

"My Dad would ask if the lie served a good purpose or was entertaining. Mom is more complicated but as long as it was for another's benefit then she'd let it stand. Besides, I'm not lying about killing the Sea King. I might have just been eaten previously." She defended herself.

"Your parents didn't raise you right did they?" He asked incredulous and bemused.

"Mama raised me left not right." She replied.

"This doesn't change the fact that I'm making you buy my groceries. Don't forget my alcohol either!"

"Any particular brand you want to go with your stir-fry and deep-fried veggies?"

"Hmm... I've always been partial to Kupo Kupo Rum."

"You are a very evil old man. There's no way you can afford that on a regular basis, especially not with that rice either." She deadpanned.

"True, but you're paying for it. Good things come to those who wait."

'It's not like I can't pay for it now with a reasonable interest as that gun started me out bounty hunting and I'm good at it. But when it comes to waiting and being patient, how long do they have to wait to be rewarded and is it worth it?' She thought before she ran off to town to go grocery shopping. 'Waiting is hard, but most people don't recognize the difference between waiting and doing nothing.'

"So, this is all you need. It seems like such a large amount of material for something that will only take about a sixteenth of it." Aki commented.

"But you're ordering a completely custom made gun with custom parts and these… shells. The excess is for when I'll mess up while creating the parts as I'll be using some unfamiliar alloys and they'll have to be tested." He replied. "Of course I'll want to keep anything left over as my own bonus so that's incentive for me not to mess up. After all, how often can a normal guy get his hands on seastone!"

"Not very, but former hit-men don't count as normal in the first place." Akiyaki replied.

"So how are you going to get it?" The old man asked.

"Stealing is out as I don't want to be a known criminal as then I can't hunt bounties and I don't know where and if they keep it at the nearest Marine base that's three days away..." She murmured before she smiled as an idea hit her. "That'll work."

"What will?" He asked.

"It's better that I not tell you. Plausible deniability is what they call it I think. Now where would I get these other supplies?" She asked.

She would rather not kill him as she did like him -even if he was a jerk. He was old man; he could get away with being set in his ways. She'd rather not have to kill him for knowing about magic.

"I'm not all that familiar with South Blue. I'd rather not get taken up to Aviary Island again by the inhabitants." She explained. Being brought up as food for giant birds was an experience she'd rather not repeat. A few small compulsion charms, some mental magic and she had transport if she ever had to fly anywhere. Aki supposed that she'd have to find a few places to land her birds in the Grand Line which meant carving out her own territory, or encroach in a few places. Riding on a smaller sea king was fast, but beyond that, she wouldn't recommend it for any extended journeys. Creature comforts were important. She had ended up staying a few hours on a few islands, but people weren't on them as she restocked on food and water. Sea kings just didn't have cargo room either.

* * *

_Eighteen Days Earlier_

'_So this is Baterilla, Ace's birth place. It's pretty. It would be far nicer if it had less Marines.'_ Akiyaki thought as she explored the town. The buildings were white washed and had red tile roofs but they managed to be unique in the details as the carvings were ornate. The only eyesore she could see was the Marine Base that didn't even try to fit in with the rest of the island's decor.

She found a restaurant after docking her little sailboat outside of town and ordered a meal while she let the conversation of the natives spill over her. It didn't take long for her to realize that she was drawing a bit of attention although it wasn't for her clothes or anything like that as she managed to blend in quite well with the locals in that respect -it was her age and gender.

This was an island hit hard by the Gorosei's purge of the world while trying to kill the child of Gol D. Roger. The purge killed any child under the age of five, any female of child-bearing age and anyone who got in the way of said purge. The Marine base was supposedly installed to cut down on piracy in South Blue but was actually a way to curtail local rebellion with a show of military strength. They seriously had a reason to rebel. True the purge didn't start out massacring children, but it had devolved into it at the end.

She quickly paid for her meal and left the restaurant and everyone's lingering attention and ducked out of sight and then above them on one of the whitewashed arches that was in-between the building and over the streets. The conversation was droll however and made her grateful that covering her distinctive scars on her cheek was instinctual while wearing a dress. Really, why would she want to get married to such pathetic and weak men?

Quietly climbing over rooftops she found a place where she could put to use this life's superior eye-sight to plan a way out of town. With such a viewpoint it became possible that she saw the house that was half hidden by a cliff. While Garp wasn't the most descriptive person and her information was second hand from Ace, it was obviously the cliff Portgas D. Rouge waited upon and her house next to it.

Ace was her best friend.

She wasn't one to use that term lightly. Ace was the one that knew _everything_ about her. In turn, she knew everything about him. All their doubts, fears, worries, joys and miseries were shared. They knew how best to piss the other off, how best to make the other smile and how best to make the other laugh.

The only reason their relationship wasn't sexual –at the moment- was because the emotional intimacy they currently shared was far closer than any physical intimacy ever could hope to be. Ace was attractive, but while more mature than most teenagers –he was still a teenager. She while physically a teenager –and puberty wasn't any more fun the second time around- she still was much older than him mentally. Still, she felt that she owed Rouge her respect for protecting her best friend and allowing him to be born.

Ace was her best friend. Her friendship was not a thing that was lightly given. Nor was being her best friend all that attractive of a position.

For a while, Ace was the only reason she stayed sane. A person isn't supposed to remember their past life -for a reason. Thankfully the mood-swings and instability of her moods were blamed on her becoming a woman and not reactions to half-remembered war where if anyone could speak of some of her actions during it would have landed her in Azkaban. She wasn't a nice person and the issue of sanity was variable. She wasn't a risk to her health or others -for the most part. She was however a person with a severe case of PTSD whose method of coping was denial of it happening, pretend it didn't and then preventing anything like that from ever happening again by any means necessary. If anything, her determination to deal with the fate she had handed herself and not regret it -even if it had been poorly thought out from this perspective- had spurred Ace to decide that he was going to live a life without regrets. Somehow that had managed to echo out to the other two. She wished them luck.

She was stealthy and fast enough that she had reached the house within minutes after escaping town with ease. After that it only easy to find the grave as half over-grown as the place was. It was a wooden cross, crude that it was.

Someone had at least thought ahead when they had dug her grave and planted flowers on top of it, even if they ran as wild as the grass. She was pretty sure that they were red hibiscus.

The lack of tidiness was actually annoying and to her mind it rang of neglect and lack of respect which she couldn't tolerate. Rouge deserved better. So she took a deep breath and focused while using haki to sense her environment while focusing on which were flowers and which weren't. Then she waited for the wind to blow. A focus of intent on the currents of the wind and instantly the air cut the grass and weeds that were then blown out to sea with that same breeze.

Even in her past life she had never felt comfortable about standing or sitting in front of someone's grave. It seemed so disrespectful to mourn over a grave marker when you were standing above their head. So she sat with her back propped against the rough wood of Rouge's cross.

"Oi, Portgas! If you've been paying attention you should know who I am, so listen up as I tell you about your boy..."

* * *

To be frank, she didn't mean to spend all night talking to the night air and the spirit of the woman who had given birth to her best friend. It just sort of happened.

Feeling drained but lighter she wandered into her house to look for a few things Ace might want -like a picture of his mother. Garp was a terrible parental figure all-around even if he did keep Ace alive. Ace was alive, yes. He was in good physical health, yes. Once he had grown up and realized that both of his parents had loved him? Even his father? That towering pyre of rage and resentment that represented his life would burn out. If Ace hadn't hated his father with the intensity he did then she was sure that once he had put aside that childish but understandable loathing then the unwanted but still heavy burden of guilt caused by surviving the purge when so many hadn't would have caused him to commit suicide. The world might even say 'good riddance' if it knew.

Ace was her best friend. He was fucked up before he was born by circumstances he couldn't even hope to control but he was still her best friend. Her best friend was also an orphan and that meant that she also knew of the drive to find something and learn something about them. Having found a journal and a picture of his mother so that he knew of her -she left the house and grave without looking back. She needed one of her newly tamed birds for an errand. A smaller one preferably.

* * *

_Fourteen Days Earlier_

"Ah, thank you!" Aki replied to the shop keeper.

"Not a problem, now what's a little girl like you doing with that stuff?" The generic looking shop-keeper asked. It was quite a bit of metal, but she had bought extra anyway. She knew enough about guns to know that her little revolver was due for an overhaul so that it would be more accurate. She hadn't quite worn the little barrel out yet -but there was no reason to prevent a problem instead of having to deal with it later.

"I'm running errands for a man too lazy to do it himself!" She really had no problem misaligning the gunsmith like that.

"Can you carry all of that by yourself?" He asked.

"Don't worry, I'm stronger than I look!" She proved it too by picking up the heavy metals needed with ease and taking them out of the shop without all that much effort. She was starting to feel the weight by the time she had reached her ship. Although the metals and coal didn't weigh as much as some of the beasts her and the three idiots had taken down in the forest the weight was much more concentrated. She also wasn't dragging the carcass around either. She wasn't going to featherweight this load as that would and could be detrimental to her strength later on.

This lead her to consider the possible benefits of weight training -and given how much time she spent on that ship of hers -balance training as well. Distribute her weight wrong and she'd end up sinking, along with tipping her ship and possibly losing all her supplies. Maybe more training as well in keeping the ocean under her ship denser so that it helped keep her ship up above the ocean floor? She had never focused all that much on the physics behind ship-building and buoyancy and weight carrying loads in her last life but she had studied up on that in this life. Magic made carrying capacity a joke when you could have just about anything in a tiny little purse. It really made her wish for a wand at times as she knew the enchantments for that, but had not figured out the runic component yet.

She stored most of the supplies in her little boat and took a look at one of the bars of metal she had bought extra of.

In less that a minute she was looking at a bar of iron and her wooden sword with her eyes going between the two for a few rounds. Smirking she tossed the bar of iron up in the air.

A test of skill. She drew her wooden katana like wooden blade from her sash.

To any outside observer it seemed like the bar of iron wasn't solid as the wooden sword seemingly passed straight through it as it fell. Or that she had missed the iron bar entirely.

The ocean breeze blew and the iron bar fell into two distinct pieces and straight down the middle.

She examined the cut. It was an impressively nice and even cut for something that really shouldn't be cutting such as a _wooden_ sword. Haki was impressive.

She looked at her boots and took them off. A bit of paint and magic had undetectable pockets where she stored the excess iron. These pockets just didn't have limitless capacity, nor were they feather-light. Due to the runes it would distribute the weight evenly and re-enforce the boots so the boots wouldn't tear to pieces. Doing this gave her another idea.

She looked at the lacy sleeves on her dress and then at the twin blades her father had gotten her for her birthday years ago. He had sent them by a trusted third-party service as a drop off. She had then just picked them up. She let her mind wander through runic puzzles and designs that could be added to the sleeves. At least she had something to do while sailing now.

* * *

_Twelve Days Earlier_

She was wandering around another island in South Blue. This island was according to rumor a hideout for some pirates that wanted to go to the Grand Line. This island was also home to the South Blue Sparrow which were large enough a normal person could ride on them with ease but they weren't the size of some of the larger fauna of the world like the Grand Line's Roc-hawk or the smaller sub-species that lived in South Blue. They fell on her list of 'to tame and ride.' Sea kings were all well and fun but it was difficult to find a riding spot on those that were large enough that their pupils could be larger than ships. It made riding one a bit difficult. Sure, having cargo and shelter were possible on those huge sea kings, but the speed that they swam could easily toss everything off in an instant.

She scouted the camp out with her haki. Most of them couldn't hold a candle to her but a few were strong and it only took someone's lucky break to end her. War experience and Moody told her to not get overconfident. There were a lot of them and only one of her. She could snipe a few but she only had so much ammo.

This meant getting help as these guys were needed. Well, their Captain was anyway.

* * *

_Ten Days Earlier_

She hated attention from people she didn't know or like. Being slightly noticeable helped her out though which is why she wasn't wearing a jacket and standing in the middle of an intersection while waiting for her target to come to her. At the moment, thanks to breast binding, she appeared to be a very androgynous teen.

An unasked for ability that she had developed in this life was the ability to track someone down should she have known them for a period of time. It came in handy at times. The benefits just didn't outweigh the drawbacks at the moment. She needed to master it further. Like haki, her sword skills, and other things while gaining allies and building up a power-base. Given all the trouble Ace being Roger's son gave him, being Shanks' daughter would mean that she would be hunted for being born to such a criminal. That's not to mention Luffy's father. Unlike the boys however, she knew how to avoid the law, how to work the backroom politics and how to make a business empire.

She didn't want to approach this individual -however well they worked together. Aki thought that she might end up with a permanent blush the last time they had met.

"The Gods must favor an exile such as I to make us cross paths again, or we have both gained their dislike and this is another ill-fated tryst." The woman with silver hair stated as the bunny ears on her hat bouncing as she walked in her heels. Her dark red jacket reached down to mid-thigh and the cloak-cowl thingy was probably stuck in her black canvas backpack. It seemed like she was wearing a few layers of transparent cloth to make what appeared to be a knee-length semi-decent dress but wasn't one at all. The heels and what she was wearing on her legs didn't help the impression at all. If it wasn't for the hat and backpack, Ryoko would look far better in someone's bedroom or in a high class whore house –one that charged ransoms for kings.

"I'm freer to travel as I wish as you can clearly see, but I'd like to recruit you for a bit." Aki said straight out.

"Whatever for do you need my assistance? An itch that you can't scratch?" She asked haughtily. "I'd have no trouble helping you there." She purred.

"Nah, nothing like that." Aki replied as she fought down a blush. She reminded herself that as far as she knew –Veela didn't exist in this world. "I'm running errands for a gun-smith and some bounties may be in my way of obtain some supplies later."

"How many and how strong?" She asked, with hooded green eyes.

"Wanna find out?" Aki asked with a crooked grin. "After all, it's a pleasure to see you again, Usagi-chan."

Cue glomp.

* * *

_Eight Days Earlier_

"So they've cleared out and left us wanting. How boring." Ryoko stated as they surveyed the previously bustling camp ground.

"They'll be back. See there -they wouldn't leave that. It's too valuable to leave like that." Aki pointed out. "This is their base. Should we prepare for their return?" She asked.

"We really should get ready for this occasion. Do you have a theme or any particular attractions in mind?" Ryoko asked.

Aki explained. Ryoko grinned before she kyaa'd and Aki had grabbed her jacket sleeve to prevent the older woman from falling over.

This seemed to be becoming a habit. At least she wasn't glomped this time.

* * *

_Five Days Earlier_

"That's the last of the traps laid." Aki said, proud of the fact that they had trapped the pirate's camp to hell and back with ease. These were pirates that no one would miss. Beyond being murderer, rapists, thieves and all around the floating scum of the ocean -they were also guilty of desecrating a graveyard nearly two months ago. She could never stand that. With most of the world being ocean, most people were buried at sea. The living needed land to live on.

"So let's watch 'em fumble around ineptly." Ryoko replied.

The traps were not needed. They had just gotten bored with waiting and then trapped the place heavily. It was something that made Aki wish for a wand again. Some enchantments were wicked in effect for any defenses.

Aki in the last few days had caught on to one particular outstanding fact about Ryoko. If she said more than three words it was part of an innuendo, double entree or something perverse. In all told, she had known the woman for less than a week. She had at least noticed that Ryoko at least toned it down in public by being subtle.

"You really are a pervert aren't you." She deadpanned. It wasn't even a question.

"No, I'm not a pervert." Ryoko replied, an expression on her face speaking of teasing intent and feigned hurt. "I'm a unrestrained beauty to the world! A deviant without compare! I am a SUPER PERVERT!"

That was obvious. Ryoko's habit of reading porn of the 'plot? what plot?' variety made it really obvious. They passed some time in silence only broken by the sound of pages turning. They could afford the wait.

"While it's not really my business, you're proud of that?" She asked. In her past life some people had been proud of their ancestors, blood-line and their own abilities and talents. Here, in this life, a person could be proud of a number of things such as their character flaws and even deviancy.

"Why not? I'm not ashamed of who I am or what I like. Some other people find someone who enjoys herself as much as I do reprehensible. I just say that they're a bunch of frigid prudes who don't know how to have a good time."

"So you're a hedonist." Aki translated.

"I'm also a sadist." The bunny-woman replied. "We've finally got company. Ouch! That has to hurt. Poor little inept pirate!" Ryoko called out and pointed out.

Ryoko had far better eyes than she did. They both then watched the pirate crew more or less massacre theirselves on the traps which they'd take down once they had gotten who they wanted -that is to say the Captain. Standard bounty practice was the Captain got the bounty unless the crew proved exceptional and dangerous.

"So why did you need my help again? This was something easily done and finished." Ryoko stated.

"No, I need your help for later. We've a Marine Base to rob and I would prefer to not get caught while doing it."

"My, my. Such an increase in difficulty level. I might be able to help with that." She cooed.

"I'm also tempted to give those that survive a new necktie before we disarm the place (1)."

"Oh, you're so cute and adorable and vicious and kyaa!" Ryoko exclaimed as she squirmed before falling. Aki caught her by her sleeve before she fell to the ground. The red head blinked. This seemed to be developing into a habit.

While vicious, she wasn't that mean. Was she? She thought back to her past life. The torment she had inflicted on a few people, the subtle torture on a few, and the death eaters that she had flat out executed. The muggle-born camps where she had broken a number of ministry employees beyond Saint Mungo's capabilities. Her hard line politics and policies about certain issues…

Vicious fit.

* * *

_Two Days Earlier_

"He amounts to 25,000,000 beli as he's still alive -if barely. Is that all Mr. Valentine?" The naval clerk asked nervously as he held his eyes on Valentine's orange-red orbs.

"What's left of his crew should be near the island with all the birds." Valentine tersely replied before the bounty hunter left. Not just walked out, but flat-out disappeared.

"Huh? Where'd he go?" The clerk asked, unaware of the fact that he had allowed someone to steal all the knowledge he had in his head.

* * *

"Here's your share of beli, your cloak and foot-wear ornaments back." Aki replied as she handed said items back over.

"You know, what you're doing should be impossible." Ryoko declared.

What was? Oh, that. Aki shed the illusion she had weaved over her being. Now time to lie her ass off.

"We're next to the ocean so there's lots of humidity in the air. Focus with a bit of haki and a lot of practice, a person can change the arrangement of the water molecules so as to create an illusion. Mermaid heritage." She explained.

"That seems possible but the amount of practice behind the act..." Ryoko hm'd before giving a coy smile. "You really are good."

"I'm aiming to be the best." Akiyaki declared.

"Whatever for?"

"If only because I can be. I could do other things but why do something so repetitive and boring. There's not enough excitement and I need that."

"So you're doing this for the thrill and stimulation then!" Ryoko said, seeming overly happy about it.

"I guess I am." Aki replied. "Also, why are you traveling with me now considering that you're not as human as you appear? Answer me or not, it doesn't matter." As long as she didn't try to eat or kill her or those that she considered hers. Then she'd die.

"I'm pretty good as a navigator but I'm even better as a sniper. I'm traveling because I was inspired to years ago and I finally left to see the world beyond my neck of the woods. People and places are so interesting to see -the diversity and such."

"Did you manage to wreck your ship?" Aki asked trying to get an actual answer because none could be found in that non-answer. Aki noted that when she was lying or diverting answers she didn't slip in any sexual references.

"It got put in drydock because I was late on the docking payment. I had totally forgotten about it. I had found this one book that was far more _intriguing._"

Aki took that to mean that she had found the porn she had been enjoying for the past few days. What was with her luck that she had managed to gain the attention of a bi-sexual bunny?

"Were you all that attached to it?" The redhead asked to change topic. There were some things that weren't worth the headache.

"Not at all."

"Good." She declared. "You're coming with me after this. After all, I've decided that you're my partner now. Now, what do you say to that?"

Aki wasn't expecting the glomp, and was tackled to the ground.

* * *

Surprisingly, stealing the seastone was easy to do and they worked together as well as always. She had stolen or borrowed quite a bit of the knowledge from the desk clerk -including the security patrols, the time shifts and what other bits of security were running in that particular base. A marine base was no Gringotts after all.

The methods to make it into a useable material were harder to figure out but all it took was a bit of legilmency on her part of a quickly made unconscious Marines to find out who possibly knew how. That was a bust and waste of time in actuality.

This meant that she'd have to resort to magic after all in order to figure out how. She wasn't looking forward to that headache.

The Marine base was one of the more important in South Blue that they hit, despite the reason it had been built. Seastone was more or less impossible to damage or chip. Anyone who knew anything about it knew that. The question was, how do you work with such a material to build something like Impel Down or handcuffs?

* * *

_Seven Hours Earlier_

And their escape from the island had been going swimmingly too. Now they were caught by this spider-pig who dared to call himself a pirate Captain. To be fair they only had surrendered because she was unwilling to risk losing her cargo and ship.

Having gotten used to Ryoko's usual innuendo laden speech over the days spent with the woman, she had forgotten how insulting she could be. She had also learned several new sexual insults. Unfortunately this lead to them having to fight the spider-pig's crew. Beating the crew was going easily enough as she had pulled out her twin blades her father had gotten her from seemingly no-where and was decimating them.

Ryoko was doing well with her pole-arm and those stiletto heels she wore weren't just for show, as they seemed to be doing a good job of slicing people open as she twirled around her pole-arm before she bisected another disgusting pig. There might have been a reason her coat was the shade of dried blood after all. However, the gauzy material of her dress was going to be a bitch to clean.

He own blades were busy and causing a few amputees and making her going to have to clean and bleach her dress. Unfortunately for the two bounty hunters, they had forgotten about the fact that this was South Blue who was infamous for its revolutionary designs of guns and rifles.

The first tranq had her dizzy, but her last conscious thought was, '_I hate tranq guns.'_ Several other members of the crew went down before they had managed to tackle her to the ground and shackle her arms and legs.

That led to now.

"Your mad?" Ryoko questioned.

"I'm using it to focus. This is where I'm glad that my hair is long enough to do this." Using what movement the chains afforded her, she was able to pick up a few shedding hairs on her fingers. Pissing off the spider was something of a bonus. As long as it didn't bite her. She was working on getting her haki under enough control to be directed with a thought. It wasn't there yet.

Center, focus, apply haki to hair strands. Focus the energy to the right hand to slice the chains holding her. Focus to the left hand to slice all opponents around her. Tighten, coil the haki, focus and release!

The chains that were holding her split apart above her head and the spiders that were wrapping the both of them up in spider silk were effectively dismantled and made dead. Mastering the flying strike was helpful as it could be used with ease with anything else including hair. This was something she needed to teach Ace and Sabo soon.

Her landing could have been made better though. She was still covered in spider silk and she still had her shackle cuffs on. However she wasn't hanging from the wall and she had been for the past few hours. Second use for weaponized shed hair -lock picking. That she'd have to mention to Ace and Sabo. She massaged her wrists. They were sore.

"Nice one partner! Don't be basking in the afterglow without me though." Ryoko called. As Valentine had become an alternate persona, Ryoko had started calling her partner instead of Valentine. Occasionally Ryoko called her boss, but that happened far less often than partner.

After her hands were free she cut the spider silk off of her and bundled it up before freeing her boot covered feet. The pirate crew was rather new or uncaring as they didn't take those off of her. She found the spider silk was surprisingly hard to cut. Then she freed Ryoko who stretched out and made noises that could be considered obscene if they were loud enough to be heard by the rest of the crew as she stretched and massaged her own wrists while Aki gathered the rest of the spider silk.

"Boss, I didn't mention it earlier, but your walk is heavier than it should be. Are you wearing weights?"

"Quite a bit of them." Aki said as she didn't know exactly how much she was wearing. She was wearing enough that her combat performance was down which meant she needed to wear more and train more with them. To be fair -they weren't expecting company on their way back.

"Ah, should we go and squish the top spider then?" Ryoko asked.

"Yup."

And they did.

* * *

_Two Hours Later_

"What sort of shitty pirates were those? They just stole our boat and cash and didn't examine the metals we had stored below! Hell, they didn't even notice the seastone!" Aki complained. Instead, they had just dragged their little boat along with their ship. So the crew that was left alive was left drifting as they had cut the rigging and stole all the provisions they could and wanted off of the former pirate ship.

"I'd say they were more than a little inexperienced but they had a spider zoan so they weren't completely lost when dealing with a woman or two. We also took back what was ours with a delicious compound interest rate." Ryoko adjusted the sails to take advantage of the wind shift.

"Ah, we're almost back to the gunsmith's place." Aki said.

"So what's the seastone for?" Ryoko asked, curious.

"I'm designing a weapon. A gun to be specific. It work better with higher carbon steel-"

"Which is brittle."

"Than lower carbon steel-"

"Which dulls."

"Lower carbon steel also has lower conductivity. Most materials without a high carbon amount are crap at conducting it but carbon also increases the brittleness and I'm not a gentle person."

"The seastone is to get around that restriction then?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

* * *

_Two Day Later_

"Ah, so you're back. You took ages to get back to me though so I went ahead and cast some of those odd bullets you thought of and crafted a small revolver like the one you stole from me years ago to work with them with my spare supplies. Took me a bit to figure out how."

"I got sidetracked and was delayed in getting the seastone. Really, can I buy that little revolver off of you old man? I was pretty sure that I didn't leave the powder recipe, much less the specifics of it lying around."

"But I saw it and I have to say that you'd make a good gunsmith yourself! Those bullets of yours were far faster and deadly than the common lead ones. Bit loud though." He complained.

"I'll eventually have to as you're an old man and I don't want everyone learning how to make them." Aki stated, trying to be subtle in asking for him to teach her and trying to inform him of the consequences of what those bullets could have. "Could you imagine the mess that would happen between marines and pirates once these bullets are adapted into the less common varieties like explosive rounds?"

Judging by the paling of the old man's face, he could.

"As good a reason as any, to take such a secret to my grave."

"Whatever, can my gun design be done?" She asked. Ace had had a bad effect on her manners over the years.

"It might take me a while, but I'll enjoy this challenge! Stick around little missy and you'll learn some things." The old man said while laughing.

* * *

Eight months, three weeks, one visit to the south pole complete with asshole penguins, four visits home, three awkward talks, two crying jags that weren't hers, one that was, two meetings with the revolutionaries, seven tamed South Blue Sparrows, three tamed Roc-hawks, six broken arms, sixteen sprained wrists, eight sprained ankles, three quick journeys onto the first few isles of the Grand Line, one hundred twenty three kyaas(!), two shattered prototypes, four gun barrels broken beyond repair, five dislocated shoulders, more beli than they knew what to do with at the moment, a quick visit to her Dad's home town in West Blue and a somewhat haphazard but through apprenticeship in the art of gunsmithing later they had a masterwork -or would if the seastone would amplify correctly and not shatter or break and several targets floating in the ocean innocently later -they might have it. Most of the journey would have been far longer by ship but being able to fly reduced weeks of sailing into hours on wing.

Finding out how to work with seastone would make her very much wanted by the world as they liked to keep their secrets. Next up was alloys of seastone. She wanted a proper overly heavy katana and not just a wooden one. She also wanted her dream short swords, but both of those and the heavy katana would require a master smith.

"Alright. Firing test with the custom model gun dubbed 'Castor Gun' with the designation of Silent Chaos." Aki officiated.

Silencers were added in so that she could spare her hearing and everyone else's hearing. It also had the effect of keeping the knowledge of their efforts away from everyone in town as they usually tested it from a nearby island that was little more than an oversized sandbar with a small forest of large trees growing on it.

"Good luck girl." The old man said.

"Shut it, Master Heat."

The old man chuckled and then backed away behind a large nearby tree. This had been proven wise in the past as the scars on the trunk attested to. Ryoko on the other hand, had never left the dubious safety of behind the trees in the first place after wishing her luck.

Aki focused on using and charging both the haki and magic into the gun and shell. If she had to describe it to someone in a past life she would say it was the love child between a magnum and a shotgun or maybe an assault rifle given the kick to it. It was a one handed weapon held like a magnum with a double barrel shotgun like loading system and was as thick as her arm. It was a high caliber bullet although there was no such actual caliber system in this world.

As had proven wise in previous runs she also protected herself with haki. It cut down the amount of injuries -and she in a manner that most would call masochistic liked the kick. Anyone who tried to use it against her could easily cripple their arm for life if not tear it off if they didn't know how to use it properly. If they managed to save their arm -previous designs had shown that the energy costs of firing could still kill them. She had passed out enough to know the energy drain intimately.

She took aim at the line of floating targets and fired with her left hand and supporting that arm with her right. She feed it more energy and fired.

It was a thing of beauty and potential mass death.

She was knocked on her ass several yards back but it was worth it.

The gun worked! Chaos worked!

All the targets were blasted by a seeming ray of energy that quickly pierced through all of the targets lined up.

She panted and grinned widely with success! "It worked! It worked!"

The old man was crying in happiness and Ryoko was shell-shocked in amazement as she watched the bullet and the arc of energy around it disappear into the ocean nearing the edge of her vision -all of six miles away.

The two that were previously hiding in the trees ran up to the teenager panting on the ground.

"That was exhausting. It's not something I'll be using all that often." Aki eventually managed to pant out while she stood up. She then did her happy dance with Ryoko which amounted to her and Ryoko jumping up in a circle screaming, "We did it! It worked! It worked!" before dissolving into laughter.

She, the old man and Ryoko celebrated for all of five minutes and then the adrenaline wore off and she passed out in exhaustion.

There was a reason she wouldn't be using it all that often.

It was exhausting and mentally straining.

Next time, she'd design a gun that had less physical and mental recoil and name it 'Fluffy.'

Because she could.

* * *

A/N; Aki has her custom gun –or at least her first one. Ryoko is more or less part of her crew at the moment -but that won't be formed for a while more or when she's seventeen. The gun is complete. The ammo set it'll have will be horrifying for those on the other side as the 'ray' is the standard un-modified ammo. Most spells can be broken down with arithmacy into movements and words. With runes it is possible to write in the movements and words into the lettering itself. Get a bullet, inscribe it with a bit of acid, add a magical charge and having a barrel and chamber that is stronger than diamond while boosting the weapons effects with haki? She's not limited to playing nice and 'light' now. What do you guys think of haki-enchanced bombarda, reducto or even fiendfyre?

1. Sand necktie. Burying someone in wet sand up to their neck and let the tide potentially drown them. Aki is not nice. There's a reason Valentine is considered inhuman even beyond 'his' ability to be anywhere at random and beyond standard travel times.

Oh, and I got in the mood to draw Aki out. Check out Deviant Art and search Akiyaki. I also drew out an older Sabo and got lazy with the shading. Of course this is her in her teenage years.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N; Luffy's Arc. My manga OP binge cause. Damn you. I get distracted easily. I forgot how damn long some of these arcs actually are... Luffy's arc is going over my estimate...

Where I'm glad that I don't have to do this chronologically. Also I explored a little with the characters... Sanji is amusing to write but it's also where I wish that I knew how to use the little heart signs to get it down properly...bleh. But first is Nami.

Also Ace wanted screen time so he got screen time. Also not much has changed from cannon OP here. Next chapter has Aki interacting with Luffy and crew though. You'll also begin to see exactly how Slytherin she actually is.

This is technically a companion chapter to Chapter 15. Nami's perspective is before Ace leaves. Sanji's and Vivi's is after Ace leaves.

**3/24/2012 Edit**

* * *

Chapter 23: Sands of Time

It was the night after the party of pirates and princess had heard about Benihime. The smarter pirates of the strawhat crew did the smart thing.

Instead of asking Luffy, they asked Ace.

"Now that that's done, how do we know that Benihime isn't part of Baroque Works?" Nami asked while others might have called it demanding. She wanted answers damn it! If their sister was as good as they said she was then she didn't want to fight her! Both Luffy and Ace were monstrously strong! Any sibling of theirs would doubtlessly be as strong if not stronger!

"Man, aren't you all a curious bunch?" Ace replied in that lazy drawl of his.

Nami felt the urge to strangle him but didn't. He was made of fire after all thanks to his devil fruit. There was playing with fire and then there was getting burned by stupidity. Nami wasn't an idiot enough to do something so stupid! The urge to strangle him remained though.

"I can think of a number of reasons off the top of my head why she wouldn't be part of Baroque works." The veteran pirate stated.

A time passed in silence.

"Are you going to share any of them?" Nami growled.

"You want a list of them?" He asked, with a curious look on his face.

"That would be nice." Zoro commented.

"You should have said so. A number of reasons she wouldn't join Baroque Works by Portgas D. Ace." Ace introduced what he was saying in a stage like manner. Usopp and Chopper, Nami noted were rather entranced by Ace's theatrical manner.

"The first reason she wouldn't is that she isn't the type of person to join Baroque Works in the first place. She is a prideful, very whimsical and yet, a highly methodical person. Independent and self-sufficient to a disturbing degree, smart and very determined, highly skilled and intuitive. She's also an exceedingly clever bitch at times which she will admit to, on top of being business and politically savvy as well. Out of all of us, she is not only the smartest, but the most ruthless (1)."

Ace cracked a wistful smile. "She's a bounty hunter and a damn good one. One that is known world wide. It's not without reason. A number of those traits aren't minion material, which is what Baroque Works and Crocodile really want. He wants people dependent on them for information, orders and their livelihood, since from what Zoro told me about how this organization works, that is what Baroque Works does for its minions. In return, all the underlings have to listen and follow orders, lend their strength for the cause, do their job and all that. Am I getting that right princess?" Ace asked with a smirk.

"Uh, that's essentially correct." Vivi said after a pause to think through what the veteran pirate had said.

Nami blinked as she considered what the second division commander said. How were Ace and Luffy brothers again? Luffy wasn't nearly as intelligent or well-mannered. She was sure that Luffy didn't understand _anything _political. Ace, while cheerful and easy-going clearly had understood far more than she expected of _Luffy's brother._

"Good. Thought so. The second reason is that she wouldn't work under someone for longer than a job or two unless he or she earned her loyalty in some fashion. That's pretty hard to gain and even harder to keep as she's not one to fall for sweet words and empty promises, like being in a position of power after a coup or whatever Crocodile's planning. It's rather mercenary of her, but considering she's busy doing other highly profitable things it's actually pure business sense. So the first ordeal after finding her would be convincing her to join and to do that, she would have to be convinced that joining would benefit her and be worth the investment, so to speak. The ordeal after that would be surviving her, especially if she doesn't like you."

"Yeah, sis is like that." Luffy remarked.

"True, and the amount of money she makes as a bounty hunter is obscene, and that's not including any money made on other business ventures. Baroque Works being the organization responsible for all the transportation, housing, information and whatnot, Baroque Works would get a significant cut for that alone. That and I'm not sure that when Baroque Works was coming into being that she was even on this part of the line. Even if she was, she could avoid being recruited as Baroque Works' area of influence was much smaller and easier to get around. Even if they tried and that Kijo refused and they refused her refusal… depending on her mood various results could happen from being knocked out to a short term crippling to being killed."

"Killed?" Usopp and Chopper asked. While Nami knew that Luffy wasn't an ordinary pirate -it still didn't change the fact that murder and mayhem were everyday things to the average pirate.

"They wanted me to be Mr. 7 and I refused that position that way." Zoro explained.

"Or worse." Ace cut in. "They could become her next chew toy. The likelihood of survival is remarkably low. "

"Are you two still fighting again?" Luffy asked suddenly.

"Not really, Luffy. Just arguing, as usual."

"Ah, that's nothing new. What about that bet?"

"Still haven't met the conditions for it. Which we're both glad for."

"Chew toy?" Chopper asked.

"Punching bag." Ace replied. "She'll bite someone to death if she has to. I know she has torn out someone's throat, but I don't remember the who or why. Playful _nips_ are more survivable."

There was something about how he said that, that pinged on Nami's intuition. She didn't know what it meant, but it was important.

"The next reason is that she's not a devil fruit user, nor does she want to become one. All the top five guys and their partners are ability users, from what the princess has said. So it is either a requirement or the people there prove their strength and get rewarded with the fruit. She doesn't really care for devil fruit at all, except to say that they make her job more interesting. Despite coming across four of them that I know of, she hasn't eaten one of them. She fed her cat the first one, sold the second, gave the third away and tossed the fourth overboard."

"Are devil fruits supposed to rare though?" Sanji asked.

"She's a bounty hunter. This means she hunts those with bounties on their heads. Pirates have a tendency to gain those prices and devil fruit especially on the Grand Line. They usually dither over should they sell or eat the devil fruit for a while, depending on the crew and captain."

Nami noticed what was unsaid. As a former thief that stole only from pirates, she knew how protective over treasure pirates were. If a person like their sister was strong enough, who needed trickery to get the goodies? And if you were good enough to beat everyone unconscious, then why not just take everything? Nami could see how bounty hunting made for making _obscene _amounts of beli, but only if done _right and with higher bounties than East Blue had_. Zoro, Johnny and Yosaku made ends meet, but they weren't the 'decimate the crew and captain and steal everything they own' type of bounty hunters and were in poorer waters, so to speak as the average bounty in East Blue was merely 3,000,000. That type of bounty hunter was clearly what their sister was. It was remarkably pirate like behavior.

"The next reason would be that Baroque Works is based in a desert. She's not a fan of this type of climate. The drier the clime, the more irritable she gets. Her being irritated means that people that she wouldn't usually go after, she will, for the sole purpose of them becoming targets of frustration and boredom. Having grown up with her, that's a position to avoid being in. Her sense of humor is… traumatic."

Nami wondered exactly how one's sense of humor was so twisted to be described as _traumatic_. Not just off beat, dry, black, morbid, punny or just plain weird –but traumatic. As in trauma _inducing_.

"Supposing she had joined?" Nami asked feeling braver in her shock.

"Then Crocodile wouldn't be running Baroque Works." Ace chuckled darkly. "He'd be dead."

"Dead?"

"She'd kill Crocodile?" Vivi asked. "Why?"

"She's not one to listen to orders or do something because someone says to do something. If fact that's a nice way for a person to be ignored or for her to go out of her way to spite them. The only thing she listens to is reason and that's not a sure thing. She's whimsical remember? She needs three good reasons, two death threats and a bribe to get her motivated to do something that's she's not anticipating doing, but will have to do it anyway like orders that she'd have to follow. Crocodile doesn't seem the type to take any defiance from anyone."

"Like what?" Usopp asked.

"Let's see… ah, I know the perfect example. Unfortunately, I've been sworn to secrecy about it, and that's a shame. It's one of the few times that any photographs survived, not that you can actually tell it's her considering the wig and costume and everything else on stage. "

"So why she personally not join, even though she hasn't?" Zoro asked.

"It would be an affront to her personal pride to work for this ideal country thing that Crocodile's got going." Ace explained. "The whimsy would lead to her own _unique_ interpretations of orders, or what not. She's actually pretty good about following the rules to the letter while still breaking every single one of them, when she doesn't decide to break them outright. It's something of a hobby of hers. Lastly, for all the whimsy and pride, she is a highly successful bounty hunter among other things. Bounty hunting can be fun, or it can be tedious or anything else depending on the hunter and how they hunt. Ambushes, chases, or just lucky-finds. Being told to hunt this person, or that one, using the information provided to her by Baroque Works… Crocodile couldn't find a more mutinous subordinate if he tried. The last reason that I could think of off the top of my head would be is that she'd bore of taking down all these small-time idiots who think they could make it big-time."

Nami listened to the reasons with interest, trying to gauge this information. So Benihime -which wasn't her actual name since Luffy had been calling her Aki-nee-san all this time- was at least older than Ace who looked about twenty so she was mid-twenties. She didn't like the desert and was a pragmatic and a private individual beyond her incredible strength. She _was_ reasonable and Nami was assuming that she was as intelligent as Ace implied and that Luffy had gotten the really really short end of the stick when it came to that particular attribute. She probably had some sort of moral system or code that was probably looser than Zoro's but still vaguely honorable since she used swords considering her plundering of pirates after beating or killing them. She also bored easily and traveled often. She was a veteran of the Grand Line who had a temper and sense of humor that was probably best avoided. Ace however was in trouble for that last point. The urge to strangle him was felt again.

"So... Baroque Works and Crocodile are SMALL-TIME?" Princess Vivi asked.

"Ah, not that, didn't mean that Vivi-hime. Sorry, I phrased that wrong. Sorry about that. Let me clarify, Crocodile is a major threat to this country even if his former bounty is only that of eighty one million. No one becomes a Shichibukai or is offered to become one without having some serious power and clout on their side -no matter their bounty. In theory it is possible for someone without a bounty to gain a position as a Shichibukai if they performed a major feat such as beating me if the politics swung in their favor. Crocodile is pretty well-known pirate but he's not the strongest around. Against Benihime, I'm pretty sure he'd be something of a good work out -more so given this island's climate. To the rest of the world, this place is a small desert island -political importance not withstanding- so at the moment Crocodile is working small-time to become a big-time threat. Taking over the country is probably his first step. Besides, he should be easy enough to take down. Like any other person devil fruit user or not, you find his weak spot and hit it hard enough and he's pretty much done for."

"So what's his weak spot Vivi?" Nami asked.

Someone like Crocodile who had four times the bounty of Arlong -was considered weak! Nami truly didn't want to believe that there were monsters out there that could beat her childhood tormentors with such ease! What the hell was she thinking when she had joined Luffy?

Oh, right. She wasn't.

"I don't know." The princess admitted. Poor Vivi.

"His weakness is the same as every other devil fruit user right?" Zoro asked.

Nami felt her body twitch in anger. Zoro was missing something very important here and it wasn't the money that he owed her either!

"And where are we supposed to get salt water? In case you've missed it -WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A DESERT!" She punched him for good measure to make sure her message sunk into that fool's head.

"Well, you could always get some seastone but for the most part that for Marine use only." Ace replied in a manner that Nami supposed was supposed to be helpful. Well he could be more helpful and get them some.

"Seastone? What's that?" Luffy asked in his usual clueless fashion. Ngh.

Why did she join such an idiot again? Even she had heard of it even if she had previously written off devil fruits as myths! She hadn't heard much of it other than it was valuable and extremely hard to break!

"Seastone is stuff that every devil fruit user such as you and I should avoid if at all possible. It's said that seastone emits the same aura of the ocean and weakens devil fruit users such as us if we're touched with the stuff even for a few seconds." Ace explained in a dead serious voice.

"So it's a mystery stone." Luffy replied. Baka-captain! Ace had just explained it!

"Yeah, that it is Luffy. Your little doctor over should especially be wary of seastone. It doesn't just weaken devil fruit users -it nulls the powers given by the fruit. He got human intelligence and the ability to change forms through his devil fruit. He gets hit with seastone he becomes nothing more than a reindeer wearing pants and a hat (2)."

Nami felt her eyes widen at that and the implications of such a thing happening. "Chopper! You are to never be hit by that stuff! Got that!"

"Yes Ma'am!" He replied as he had gotten the message. Seastone is bad for all fruit users. It was especially bad for him as how could he fix up the crew if he didn't know how?

"So how are we supposed to beat Crocodile if we don't have that?" Usopp asked.

Usopp at least was intelligent enough to ask, Nami thought.

"I did say that he wasn't the strongest around didn't I? Crocodile is a logia like I am but he's sand instead of fire so being in the desert is an advantage for him. However because he's sand he also has sand's weakness and strength." Ace replied cryptically. It was nice to know that but what was sand's weakness?

"So you're saying that if you and Crocodile fought that you'd win based on elemental advantage, 'cause he's a sand man (3)." Sanji asked while he had another cigarette lit for him by Ace.

Nami was a bit lost. She knew her money, navigation, weather and oranges. What they hell were they talking about?

"It's more of I'd turn him and the sand around him into glass if I burned him but yeah I'd win. That's why I only distracted that Marine Captain. He's smoke, I'm fire. I end up burning the area around us and I might gain a temporary advantage and he gets a longer lasting advantage because the smoke would linger and then I'd have to get serious and it'd turn into a whole big mess as I'm sure that he has enough pull to get seastone something and then I'd really have to get serious and I didn't want to be party to destroying a nice port town like that."

"So Aki-nee-san isn't nearby?" Luffy asked in a childish whine.

"Not that I last knew of. She could be busy or lazy or training, but not here -or at least that I last knew of. My last letter from her had her in North Blue messing around with the polar bears again, but it's nearly a month old so she could be anywhere. Literally anywhere knowing her. She didn't specify where she was going next. Her usual habits would have her stop by on one of the islands this side of the Grand Line before meeting up with some of her contacts, before working some in a lazy way. Then come about late July to early September you'll most likely find her in Sabaody for at least a week. Like everyone else she does have her preferences and habits. In some ways she can be pretty easy to predict." Ace explained.

"How well do you know her?" Nami asked. What she really wanted to know was how accurate his information was. Bad information could have bad consequences. So could not having it beforehand as Vivi liked to prove with her forgetting to mention certain dangers of the desert.

"She's my best friend. I know her well." Ace replied with a challenging grin. She wasn't going to take him up on that challenge. The waggling eyebrows told Nami that she_ really_ didn't want to ask.

"So we don't have to worry about her being here now? Especially since you did say she could be anywhere." Zoro asked with an annoyed look on his face.

"I'll only answer if you tell me why you get that sour look on your face when she's mentioned." Ace replied with that smirk of his. This statement, Nami noted, started a staring contest between the veteran and the rookie pirate.

That stand-off only lasted a few minutes thankfully due to her own clever intervention. It involved her fist.

"Just tell him already!" She shouted at the swordsman.

"Why the hell should I do that!" He hollered back like the big oaf he was.

"For information! Now do it or I'll raise your debt!" She replied so that he'd do as she demanded of him.

"You witch!" Zoro growled. He then sullenly drew his white blade and its sheath out of from the others he had gotten at Louge Town. "This white sword of mine is my best friend's and rival's family heirloom. To have permission to wield it means that I'm considered part of the family."

"Let me guess, you're best friend and rival is female?" Ace asked with far too much humor apparent in his voice while smiling a cocky little smile. Nami felt the need to swoon at the smile but then reminded herself of the fact that Ace was Luffy's _brother_. No way.

Zoro colored only slightly in embarrassment, Nami noted.

"You're far too easy to read, Zoro." Ace said with far too much humor. "So that's how swordsmen propose to each other. Did you lose a fight or something?" He asked.

"What! This Marimo is engaged to some lovely lady?" Sanji questioned while yelling.

"Several fights." Zoro growled in low tones. "She probably would have met up with her already. She'll use a sword and be good at it. Blue-back hair."

"Black hair about here?" Ace motioned to his jaw. Zoro nodded. "Serious swordsman and looks a lot like that girl who follows that Marine Captain Smoker around but stronger and a tomboy?"

"Yeah."

"Kuina seemed a bit controlling to me but she does keep that Kijo in line, somewhat. That's a feat I was thought that only Aunty Makino could do."

"Aunty Makino?" Nami and the rest of the rookie pirate crew asked in unison. Who the hell was she?

"Aunty Makino is awesome! She's Aki-nee-san's mom!" Luffy said.

The crew took a moment to process this with different results coming from different paths that their logic followed. Most of them were thinking about her being at least five years older than their captain and how Ace was at least three years older than Luffy. However the bit about the two brothers having a different surname threw them off. They were about protest about how that didn't make any sort of sense unless their father was a wanton womanizer when Sanji interrupted.

"Ah, that makes sense to me since there's no way that such a strong and beautiful woman that was known as Benihime could be Luffy's sister." Sanji cooed. Nami felt her eyebrow twitch. How could he worship such an idealized woman when he had never even met her?

"So their Dad wasn't a womanizer then?" Chopper asked innocently.

"My only father is Whitebeard. Please never bring up the topic of my father again unless you're referring to Pops. He's the only man I'll call Father." Ace replied in a frighteningly cold but undeniably angry tone that said that such a topic was off-limits. The firelight playing on his face backlit a tight grim smile that looked even more sinister under his hat as it wasn't his eyes that seemed to be lit but the rest of his face clearly was from underneath his skin judging how his chest and hands had that same under the skin glow that was just plain creepy going on. It seemed like he was the very picture of a devil at the moment. The tiny green and blue flames crackling on his shoulder only proved exactly how off-limits the topic was.

Nami could only speculate about her Captain's family while she broke out into a fear induced sweat and inwardly saying prayers to some higher power that she'd live. It was possible that he and Luffy had been more or less dumped on a previous lover of their father and Ace was sadly old enough to remember it. Then he had went on being a bastard elsewhere and probably died or was really really wanted by the government.

"Aki-nee-san calls me her cousin when she's not calling me brat or idiot." Luffy said, unconcerned as usual with his annoying 'shishishi' laughter.

Thankfully it broke the tension that Ace had previously produced when the topic of his father had been brought up. So she was related to Luffy on his mother's side then? That made a bit more sense. So Ace and Luffy were half-brothers who were dumped on Luffy's maternal relatives when they were younger.

"Or any other synonym for moron. You do know the only reason that she calls you that is so that she can call her Dad a Monkey's Uncle right? It's rather distant relation, being third or fourth cousins I think (4)." Ace said and he seemed much less dangerous than he had seconds ago.

Okay, Nami-girl come up with a new theory since this Benihime and Ace had different parents entirely, she told herself and so they weren't completely related. So this Makino woman knew at least Ace's and Luffy's dad and the reason Ace hated his dad was because he had more or less abandoned him so he took on his mom's name! That had to be it!

"Now I get it." Zoro commented. She looked at him and was still lost. Even Sanji apparently got it as he was agreeing with him. Nami felt a little lost. He got what?

"I don't, so can someone explain?" Chopper asked.

"Ah, I forgot that you and Vivi aren't from East Blue." Zoro said.

"What does that have to do with anything? The great Captain Usopp was born and raised in East Blue and he still doesn't understand!"

Nami who was also an East Blue native didn't understand it either. What were they talking about?

"Parts of East Blue have this tradition and habit of I guess you could call it, 'adopting' people into their family." Sanji explained. "Kids when they're younger, brothers-in-arms and such. It makes for some interesting family trees and bureaucratic nightmares. There's a reason that the phrase of 'like an East Blue family tree' exists. Some people really are serious about it. Other parts of East Blue instead of calling someone sempai you'd call them big brother or big sister. It varies a bit island to island and person to person."

"Like Johnny and Yosaku did?" Usopp asked remembering the two bounty hunters. Nami did too.

"Exactly like that." Sanji confirmed.

"So since they grew up with each other it's natural to view someone like an older sister, right Ace?" Nami asked as she tried to get the brothers back to their talkative states before she noticed something.

"Huh? That guy's already asleep and so is Luffy. How did that happen?" Nami asked in wonder. They had fallen asleep in like three seconds!

"Ace...zzz...warm...meat...zzz."

"Zzzz...Luffy...stop drooling..."

Nami tried not to melt at the cuteness of the two brothers sleeping curled together. She didn't succeed. Ace and Luffy looked so innocent and carefree, sleeping. She still wanted to strangle them though. She wanted to know! However, at the moment they needed to help Vivi first. That way she'd get paid.

* * *

It was the same night that Ace had left somehow that the conversation inevitably turned from Alabasta's crisis, desert survival know-how to the only most recent revelation about their crazy captain and the infamous 'fire fist' Ace having a sister -foster sister, blood-kin or not. She had to be lovely! Even he had heard tales of her when he had worked for the shitty old geezer on the Baratie.

Also what was about that Valentine bastard that Ace had mentioned that had the shitty marimo go milk pale? He had realized that this Valentine fellow was a bounty hunter, but he didn't know more than that. The strawhat pirates and princess didn't see Ace leave so they couldn't question him about that. They had tried after that first and only talkative night with Ace to get more information about the beautiful Benihime to only end in failure. It failed in the early mornings too.

Ace had always managed to avoid speaking about her after that and Luffy had never brought it up again either. He had tried to but there was always some crisis or the talking was thirsty work excuse or the conversation didn't bring it up or he was asleep and avoiding his questions. Somehow he had never gotten around to answering those questions that needed to be answered for love!

Shitty smug fire bastard. According to him, she'd show up sometime later on their travels. He knew where Sabaody was and Ace was certain that they'd be able to meet her there at the very latest. Ace had assured them of meeting them before they crossed the Red Line, however close she might cut it. Ace had also warned them, that she would shamelessly hit them up for food and maybe mooch off of them for a few days. Ace also informed the chef that she was more than partial to treacle tart.

Luffy's brother was almost as infuriating and as crazy as his Captain was himself. He certainly ate like Luffy -but neater which was a good thing. Whatever table manners they crew had had before they joined had left with no hope of return because anything left unguarded ended up in Luffy's hands and then his stomach. Ace was rather good at defending all of their plates with a firm big brother headlock to keep Luffy away so they could eat in peace and relative harmony. He was also rather good with defending his plate with a fork too. Luffy's cries about being stabbed with a fork went unheeded, although their doc and emergency food supply did patch him up. Chopper did mention that it obviously wasn't the first time his hand had been stabbed with a fork before judging by the scars. Luffy had obviously never learned.

As Luffy wasn't the most reliable for accurate information he went to next information source about this mysterious beauty known as Benihime. Even if just looking at the bastard made him want to kick him. However he had hungry people to feed so they went first.

"So moss-head, how do you know this Benihime?" Sanji asked as he set up his portable stove for the night while he cursed Ace mentally. Why did Ace have to leave -now? He was a useful and more competent version of their own captain. Even if he was a sneaky fire logia bastard that had a bit of a well-earned brother complex and a few taboo topics that were to never be mentioned in his presence. He was actually handy and surprisingly helpful to have around. He had even gotten him the little stove and such when he had gotten the supplies from those fake rebels.

"I said we met, not that I know her. It was years ago." That wasn't the answer he was looking for stupid swordsman! He told the moss-head that too.

"So you at least talked to such a vision of beauty right?" He asked. To earn such recognition and awe across the Grand Line and World -she had to be beautiful! She had to strong. A goddess in the flesh!

"Shut it ero-cook. I didn't even really get to talk to her all that much. My best friend had found her practicing sword techniques one night and dragged her back to the dojo. The next morning my friend and rival dragged me in from my training and we watched her and Sensei duel. Sensei lost like I lost to Mihawk."

Having witnessed that loss himself was saying that his Sensei was outclassed with ease. How bad was he injured? Better question, did he live?

"Thankfully, they were only using wooden blades -which isn't saying much since she had leveled a forest with one of those while training before my friend had dragged her home."

Having seen Mihawk slice a ship into pieces, the chief briefly wondered how good with a blade you had to be in order to do that with a wooden blade.

The moss-head continued. "She gave some advice about how to be a truly strong and worthy swordsman and then she and Sensei talked for hours after kicking the both of us out. My rival and I eventually caught her before she left, and she promised to teach us a few things if we ever met up again."

Zoro might be a good swordsman, but he wasn't a storyteller. Obviously the swordsman had no other ability than to swing those blades around. It also wasn't what he wanted to hear. Was it truly that hard for the idiot to answer him properly?

"Is she truly that inspiring Mr. Bushido? I've heard of a few things she has accomplished but I was pretty sure that they were rumors until now." Vivi said.

Having seen Ace in action and the fact that she was older and from what he could infer -stronger- made him wonder what she would be like in action. She would be magnificent! There was no doubt about that! Ace was surprisingly competent for being Luffy's brother but what would his foster sister and distant cousin be like? It set his curiosity and passion as a chef and gallant lover of the female form alight!

"Eh? She's pretty inspiring, but she seemed somewhat serious at times and at others she seemed as big as a goof as Luffy." Zoro replied in that gruff and annoying voice of his.

"How dare you say something like that about a lady!" Sanji cried as he attacked his nakama with his foot -something that had needed to be done anyway. Ladies weren't goofs! Luffy was a goof!

They weren't allowed the chance to truly scuffle as they would have liked because of Nami smacking the both of them down hard. She was so beautiful when she was mad!

"Aki-nee-san a lady? Shishishi! She's no lady!" Luffy, his idiot captain replied. How dare he insult a lady in his presence? He was the gallant and sexy chef Sanji! Obviously his Captain hadn't learned yet! His kick still had a few more lessons to impart upon him -forcefully!

"She's obviously a princess of perfection like Vivi!" Sanji defended. His gallant nature rising up to defend the fairer sex. He reminded himself that she was Luffy's big sister even with the distant blood relation.

"You haven't even seen her!" Usopp reminded him.

It was true that he hadn't seen her -but a lot of the world hadn't either. Fire-fist said that she liked her privacy -which he figured as camera shyness. Really, how dare that cowardly sniper say such a thing? So he kicked him into a nearby sand dune. That long nose bastard _deserved_ that kick.

He didn't have to see her to know that she was a goddess in human form!

"I don't think that Luffy means that love-cook." The moss-head replied in that annoying drawl of his.

"Shut up Marimo!" He kicked at him again as a feint and then left the ground for a twisting kick to his gut. Connection! Success! He dodge the sword that Zoro kept in his mouth by shifting his center of gravity and as his hand gained purchase on the burning sands he kicked towards the marimo's knee. However that shitty bastard moved so it was more to his thigh than knee. He aimed for another kick to his back as he shifted hands but the marimo twirled and another kick connected with the swords. The follow-up mule kick was also blocked and Sanji rolled back and out of range of the swordsman's blades.

Judging by that shitty marimo bastard's grin he could go another round. He certainly needed to learn a listen that his shoes were all too happy to impart.

"If she's not a lady or an actual princess then what is she?" The emergency food supply, sorry, their doctor and newest nakama, Chopper asked.

"She's a demon!" That was an insult that he couldn't let stand.

So he kicked his captain over a sand hill with a straight up kick to under his chin after he had maxed the power of the blow by spinning. It was well-deserved in his own honest and gallant opinion.

"You could have let him explain..." Vivi said.

"Sorry my precious princess! I shall do anything you ask of me~!"

"Stupid shitty cook."

Zoro, Sanji mentally swore, I'll get you for that later. I just have to make the ladies happy first!

* * *

Sometime after the boys had settled down they had a rational conversation with Luffy about his sister -or as rational as the Strawhat Pirates could anyway. They certainly were unique and unlike any pirates she had ever met or even heard of during her time of working for Baroque Works.

Ace was an unexpected surprise and the information about Benihime even more so -but she had heard about Benihime. It was inevitable given that Baroque Works while a criminal organization was comprised of bounty hunters and low-level thugs. Benihime was considered to be a damn good bounty hunter –one of the most infamous bounty hunters of recent decades. Some of it was petty, and some of it was and probably had to be vicious rumor. However Ace had said that she was the most ruthless of them, so there were tales that the princess had previously thought false were becoming more likely to be true no matter how crazy. A person couldn't just expect a bounty hunter to be nice. Anyone with a bounty, they were sure to go after, if only for the money or maybe the glory. Out of all the traits Ace had listed, greed wasn't one of them, nor was a desire for fame –which explained why she kept aliases. Ace seemed to be an okay man after all for being such a notorious pirate. He could be scary, but then again anyone can be scary in the right circumstances.

"So exactly why is your sister not a lady?" The Princess asked once the chef was calmed down again and Luffy was fetched from over the sand dune and Usopp was tended to.

"She's a demon." Luffy replied, exactly like a child would.

"We're not going to get anything out of that's useful." Nami replied after smacking her Captain down with her fist. Tomorrow they'd be in Yuba. They had to stop the revolution and Crocodile's plans. As Ace had pointed out to her, Alabasta wasn't much worth anything other than political power. Political power could be dangerous and allow Crocodile to use Alabasta as a launching pad and base for his larger plans!

* * *

The next few days were hectic to say the least. Dealing with Baroque Works and taking it down involved most of the crew. Luffy eventually beating Crocodile who had seemed a little more than stunned at his defeat. Vivi stopping the civil war also played into their busy week along with recovering from their fights, celebrating and escaping Alabasta.

Then they found someone on ship who they weren't expecting -namely Nico Robin.

* * *

A/N; This chapter was pretty hard actually. I tried some of the other strawhats for this chapter but it didn't work to well. By the way readers, notice how the topic of Valentine was neatly forgotten about by the Strawhats and Princess. I didn't change the story much here because it mostly stays the same as those few episodes from the anime and later on. A person can only do so much until they get haki. While Luffy has better and more training than in cannon he hasn't quite gotten around to mastering it or using it on a constant basis. In fact, Luffy hasn't even noticed he has used haki yet, although he does know what it is as he has seen Aki, Ace and Sabo using it with varying degrees of mastery.

1. Sorry, but while Ace and Sabo are intelligent, they lack formal schooling. So Aki gets to be the most intelligent of them. While Hogwarts teaches magic, she still had a normal education until then, Durzkaban aside. Then after the war, she went to college to further her understanding of various disciplines to help her with research on various topics. She's no Hermione, but that doesn't mean that she's stupid or unable to learn. Beyond that, having fought in and survived a _magical_ war, she is also the most ruthless. A dead enemy isn't an enemy anymore unless used as an inferni. That said, fighting a magical war is different from a more normal war. Wards, dark magic, creatures and beasts. Wards to protect, defend, kill and alarm. Dark magic to corrupt, kill and torture. Creatures that have become true monsters and twisted caricatures. Beasts that are controlled by compulsions that they cannot even comprehend. War is hell. A _magical_ war is a twisted hell mixed with levels on insanity that's incomprehensible to a normal person. The imperious is an unforgivable for several reasons and if you ever ponder on them, then you'd understand Moody's paranoia. I'd also like to point out that it is only unforgivable if used on a witch, wizard or squib until the second book when Arthur's muggle rights bill passes.

2. I don't know why, but no one seems to realize the fact that seastone weakens devil fruit users and _nulls_ their power completely when in contact with skin/body. If someone has kept up with the recent manga seastone would have knocked Ceasar Clown down and out with no chance of recovery. Haki only allowed Luffy to hit Ceasar and then Ceasar used his gas abilities to knock Luffy out. Haki nulled Ceasar's gas body enough to allow Luffy to hit and damage it but not much more. If someone such as Chopper gained human intelligence due to a fruit and then seastone nulls the fruit given abilities and attributes? Not pretty to imagine. Of course there's nothing concrete about this, but fanfiction. I can get creative about how it really works. Seastone emits an aura of the sea –hence its name. How far, to what extent does it affect devil fruit users etc. is actually up for grabs.

3. Elemental advantages. They're so much fun -except when they're not. Then they suck. Same goes for science.

4. The Monkey D. family has lived in Fuusha village for at least three generations -most likely four at the very least if one judges by the picture of Garp as a child messing around with a familiar pipe and tiger that Oda-sensei provided us. That hints that Garp either grew up or was born and raised in Fuusha village. Mayor Woop Slap has seen three generations and believes that they're all crazy and who can argue against that given Garp's, Dragon's and Luffy's behavior? Given Fuusha's size, location and other factors -most families there are related in some way or another. It's not a question of if you're related but how close you are and if you are by blood or law? If mystery Monkey (Luffy's great-grandpa) married a native girl and all the Monkey family have married out since the closest relation to Luffy would be four generations apart at the very least. It's not much but family when living close and staying in the same area for generations tends to forget exactly how many degrees separate 'cousins' after two or three.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N; The is pre-Skypeia a.k.a. Jaya arc –not that I get far in that. Finally, Strawhats and Aki interaction.

Also, you'll see what I mean about Luffy's arc going over my initial estimate... This was meant to only be Jaya's arc and half of the Skypeia mini-arc. I had also planned for this story to be at least Sabaody by now. Ah well. Then this chapter got edited -a lot to the point of being re-written four times.

**3/26/2013 Edit**

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Chapter 24: Musings and Meetings

"Today, just isn't my d-ay." Aki declared while yawning as she felt her eyes involuntarily watered some. That wasn't a good sign. She then rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned again. Then she blinked her eyes clear while she looked around her again. Then she closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath which caused her to wrinkle her nose at the smell she had grown to know quite well over the years, exhaled and then re-opened her eyes.

What she was seeing wasn't changing.

She almost felt like groaning or complaining but over-reacting wasn't going to change what had occurred so she sighed. She had somehow managed to do it again. _Just bloody typical_.

Really, was a peaceful non-sleeping walking bit of shut-eye too much to ask for? What mental issue was asking to be addressed this time? She ignored that question to focus on something else, like her current location. She scanned it again. It was unchanging and the stench told her death was drying in the warm air. Obviously this wasn't a dream then as those usually featured people dying -not rotting unless they were shambling inferni and she couldn't place a single person as someone she had ever met.

Sadly, this situation and location still wasn't in the top ten most awkward places she had ever woke up from while sleep walking. This situation was actually rather common for her. She tried not to think about what that said about her. She knew she had issues as did everyone else to some extent. She didn't need those issues reminding her that they needed to be fixed or addressed somehow. Some were easier to deal with than others after all.

"Finally awake now are you?" A decidedly male voice asked from above her.

"Wha?" Aki asked intelligently while her brain fully woke up and started focusing on things she wanted it to. She quickly located the voice's owner, blinked again and declared flatly. "Oh, it's you." While an unexpected meeting it wasn't completely impossible -just improbable. He usually stuck closer to ports so he had likely been on this island a while.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bloodbath this afternoon." The male voice drawled in a peppy but posh and proper sounding tone. "Not that you actually slept long from where you laid down for your afternoon respite, although I know you well enough to know that a nap wasn't in your itinerary." With that said, he dropped down from the trees he had been perched in. "As always, you're quite vicious in how you deal with annoyances while sleep-walking but you're rather vicious anyway."

Sometimes she wondered if teaching him how to talk was worth it. He liked the sound of his own voice far too much -although at least the voice was pleasant.

Her most recent sleep-massacre only further proved that today was a day that she never should have gotten out of bed for. The morning was a series of unfortunate if minor annoyances -but the early bird catches the worm or bounty. This guy was true scum but minor enough that most wouldn't care. He still dealt in a particular range of nastiness she couldn't allow which made him a target for her. Any idiot under fifty million was small-fry but sometimes the small bounty didn't match the bite or vise versa. Big bounties usually meant politics were at work.

She had done the legwork for finding her target that was said to have a base on the island -that rumor required a month's work to even find although she went about it lazily. She was in Paradise so it could even be considered vacation time for her. She had narrowed down the search area as the island was a decent size and she felt like finding him the hard way a.k.a. with her eyes and not her haki or magic. The guy had a decent bounty of forty-five million on his head but he wasn't particularly outstanding in comparison to those that commonly had such in these waters -beyond being particularly nasty scum. When it came to hunting guys like that with her haki she often felt the urge to shower or cringe in disgust -after the urge to commit murder had past.

She had at least managed to find a guard trail as the tracks proved, set up a watch, get hungry, catch, cook, eat lunch, hide all evidence of lunch and was very much annoyed as she had settled in a tree to meditate and pass time for a guard to go by so that she could get relevant information because it was_ her _against a _crew_ of people -some members could actually be skilled enough to be a threat as she wasn't using haki for this boredom inspired hunt if she could help it. So she did meditate for a while to pass the time between patrols quickly.

Then she had managed to relax enough to fall asleep.

This often was bad. Meditating for her typically meant she was sorting and dealing with her various issues -and she hadn't always finished with putting them to rest before she fell asleep. Thanks to occlumency for keeping all those memories and her own crisp and fresh.

Meditation was somewhat essential for her mental stability. She had a whole other _lifetime'_s worth stuck in her head in detail that only occlumency could provide -some which she didn't want to deal with or know about. Actually a person could say that she had two lifetimes worth of memories as she was still living this one even with the memories of her past one -including the one of her own previous murder. That was a _nasty_ thing to remember or dream about. She still wondered if that counted as assisted suicide or as a mercy killing. Those memories also included the horrors of the wizarding war -and that was _horrible_ for all she had mostly avoided the_ worst _of it. It was however hard for someone to forget the fact that she had seen the Death Eaters use a muggle-born child who was previously unaware of magic, imperio'd and used as a delivery method for an object enchanted to explode in fiendfyre in front of your eyes or the magically induced fantastical tortures held in broad daylight in Daigon Ally for any caught going against Voldie's reign of terror. She used those memories as motivation in both the war, after and now. She wouldn't let allow anyone to hurt what was hers -the rest of the world be damned or not.

Falling asleep while meditating made her sleeping problems become a bigger issue. She had a tendency to sleep-walk and talk -or even sleep with her eyes open at times. Many times people couldn't tell if she was awake or asleep unless they knew her very well. It meant she could fight, wander off somewhere else, check into a hotel room and actually sleep, go grocery shopping, go out on a date, sword or gun maintenance, climb a tree or any action a person could normally do while awake within reason. Considering their rivalry and Ace's rather pronounced narcolepsy there was little wonder why the two of them had a list of the 'Most Awkward Places to Sleep/Wake Up in.' His nap during the sandstorm or naps in the restaurant in Alabasta weren't even in the top twenty. Neither did this most recent bloodbath. That really said something about the pair of them that she wasn't sure she liked.

Meditation also dealt with her own memories and emotions that she had to keep in check -this sadly was depressingly easy. Compartmentalization and repression of memories and emotions was quite possibly the best thing about occlumency -however inhuman that might seem at first glance. It helped.

If a person boiled down bounty hunting to its most basic facts -leaving out all the glory and kept to the blood- the bounty hunter occupation was essentially selling the person with the bounty to the officials. It was a legalized slave trade -not like but was, at least in this life. She was sure it wasn't like that in her past life as the government was more humane for the most part barring incompetents and hostile takeovers by terrorists. If the bounty was handed in dead then she was trading in corpses for cash. If she turned them in alive then it was like she was turning them over to a waiting pen before they were slaughtered -or imprisoned and potentially executed if one decided to be polite about it. That's if the bounty didn't die in transport, from an accident or in prison so she was picky about whom she went after and to what extent unless she was short on cash. Turning over a corpse meant she was losing twenty to thirty percent of the bounty's value. Of course, she was being overly harsh on herself.

She didn't need the money at this point as she was quite personally rich at this point but it was nice to be compensated for the effort and work put into catching them. That's without even adding in the hypocrisy of her career choice as she was sure that she was a bigger and badder criminal that most she caught by the official government standards. The only difference was that she hadn't been caught. It was a sad truth of the world -in any world- was that survival was a nasty, guilt ridden business when a person got overly ethical and moral without ever experiencing the harsh reality of surviving. Martyrs had a past while sinners had a future -and she had never been a saint while Dumbledore had been close at times when he wasn't being a dumb fuck.

Still meditation was useful for lots of things beyond strengthening the mind and finding focus or achieving clarity Meditation was a skill that became even more essential when she was working with her haki or her magical skills -especially when working with both such as when firing her custom-made gun that required both -the castor gun models anyway. She had to send herself into a trance-like state in order to work with both 'powers' at the same time. Occlumency help her 'program' what she would do while in a trance and as she later found out -while unconscious. The last was due to straying thoughts and that like anything else, had its benefits and drawbacks such as sleep massacres. Reflexes sucked at times.

Occlumency usually helped keep her previous life and her separate. It still didn't stop certain habits or even thought patterns from leaking through occasionally. Some were just too ingrained or strong. With occlumency she had shifted most of those that were self-destructive or decidedly not-her or just plain war-mean onto her Valentine persona which she would admit she had ripped off from FF7. She wasn't _that_ creative. All told, it probably wasn't the best method to deal but there really was no surefire way to deal with mental issues. She also had occlumency enforced emotional distance between her then and her now. This was on top of vague remembrances of the sensation of being properly dead and the objectivity that remembering death brought her in this life.

If she really felt like lying to herself then she could convince herself that what she remembered of her previous life was nothing but a highly elaborate dream -if she truly felt the need. Proof against that was in the fact that she could do magic. Lying to herself and others was nothing new to her thanks to life with the Durselys, although she stopped that as soon as she wasn't required to stay with them any longer -at least to herself... for the most part. How no one ever caught on to the fact that Petunia was practically bi-polar was something she found deploring. If it wasn't for that life's previous experience at hiding things from when she had lived at the Dursleys, then it would have been apparent that she was suffering from quite a bit of PTSD to anyone in that previous life as it was known. It had taken a while after the war to 'recover' which meant 'able to function well enough to fool anyone with wizarding standards for eccentric.' Crashing at her cousin's apartment and ice cream had helped quite a bit and not just after bad breakups.

Aki was firmly of the belief that her previous self would have recovered better from the war if she had settled down. That dream was impossible for her as all good witches and wizards would have wanted kids. Kids that she couldn't have due to various outside complications and concerns outside finding a good man that wasn't after her for bragging rights, money or fame who could also deal with her baggage that she was attracted to. It was a tall order without considering the most notable and damning trait for a relationship with a wizard was the fact that the basilisk venom in her veins would kill any egg that was fertilized soon after it was -effectively rendering her barren. The phoenix tears that counter-acted the venom had affected her _magic_ and that had made _her_ immune to the venom's effects but anything in her womb was fair play due to the differences between her magic and her would be child's who didn't have that immunity. That bite from second year caused more effects that that. Nothing was ever so simple for the Girl-Who-Lived. She wondered if that life would have been simpler if she'd been born male.

Bleeding out the venom was also impossible by the time she and her healer had discovered it was still there -which took them a while to do and nearly two decades after the bite. The problem was she and _her magic had adapted _to it -was forced to adapt or she would have died and she _was_ the girl-who-_lived._ Oh, they could bleed off a few drops here and there -while completely destroying her physical, mental and magical health a few drops at a time. She had _adapted_ to it so any magical scan wouldn't pick up the venom. It had become as essential to her body and health as if it was her heart, brain or liver. By removing the venom in her veins then, both she and her healer speculated that she would die or be bed-ridden for life and insane at best. Then they figured out that being female, her overall condition was expected to deteriorate over the years thanks to her own monthly cycle getting rid of minute traces of it every month -which explained why she became and was such a mess each month as the wizarding world had only contraception charms which didn't stop menstration. If she were male she would have been fine to have kids as sperm never met blood thanks to the blood-testes barrier unlike the egg cells that came into contact with the blood and nutrient –poison- rich uterus lining. A mental breakdown at the time was somewhat expected by then and it happened.

In short, while remembering her past life was _educational_ to say the least of all the things and subjects she had done and studied in her life including her past infertility issues -it had meant she had her own issues involved. Between her previous incarnation's 'childhood' in which Petunia had her own personal lockbox to never be opened, her time at Hogwarts, magical society in general and the war -she had plenty of issues in only the first two decades of that life. Some were eventually fixed by her own efforts but others weren't so easy or had vanished upon her re-incarnating. There was no magical society to irritate her and bother her for asinine reasons for example. The painful lessons learned and taken to heart and soul? Those stayed.

It was apparent even when she was a child and before she could remember what happened to cause them. Mayor Woop Slap said she had an old-soul for a reason. It showed when she let it.

Her dislike of any and all of surveillance and cameras was surprisingly soul-ingrained. Even as a child she didn't like having her picture taken although that was more of the fact that she was the daughter of an infamous pirate growing only more notorious as time went by -sleepy little coastal town or not. People were often gullible and stupid but it only took one idiot to inform the rest. She wasn't as camera shy as she had led many people to believe -she just didn't like having her picture taken without her rarely given permission. There was a reason she had spent a while creating an area of effect spell to more or less make the camera film become blank in her past life and used it constantly in this one. It modified her aura to blur her image beyond recognition and so with a few tweaks, she also used it to confuse and fuck with the den den mushi. It didn't endear her to them but she didn't like them or any slug-like creature anyway before she even remembered Ron barfing on her from when he was being stupid during second year. Then again, she believed Ron was a man with few redeeming qualities anyway as persistence didn't count.

Ace knew most of her issues in far greater detail like she did his, as he was her best friend, support and anchor -if not the sheer horror she had experienced in her memories but the facts that painted a picture of wonder and horror brought about by magic and hate. He might not know absolutely everything she had learned or done as it wasn't relevant such as how annoying commercials were or who invented self-stirring cauldrons but he did know what was important to her and why. A lot of self-analysis and awkward, hesitant explanations on both of their parts went on for the both of them during their teenage years whenever they got away from Sabo and Luffy. Usually some time after she dealt with her latest mental crises herself first, as there's only so much information a person can take in at one time however compacted in her head -and she had lived a long and full life before being murdered well, allowing herself to be killed.

That was mostly why both herself and Ace were rather platonic to each other -at the moment- although they both admitted that they were attracted to each other physically -and still were. They were two sides of the same fucked up coin and had a mutual understanding of that. While her father wasn't as nearly as universally hated or feared as Roger -he had his own enemies even before he became a Yonko.

Besides, it wasn't like the both of them with Sabo had never messed around or had sex with each other before they had an agreed upon an amicable split. They all knew it would never last and they were hormonal teenagers at the time, and supervision by other adult parties wasn't there or easily avoided and Luffy was easily distracted. Friends with benefits suited them but she wouldn't say that she was in love with either of them. It was just primal enjoyment. It was only their own mutual distaste for the act for various reasons that they found the idea unthinkable with the other until Sabo had planted the idea of her and Ace being lovers around the time they had gotten their tattoos.

Even knowing the truth firsthand, Ace still teased her about Benihime's reputation of maidenhood and being untouchable and why she was unlikely to actually find someone worth marrying and having his kid or kids. It pissed her off that he had discounted himself from that possible future simply because of who his biological father was. It was a dream that she wanted to fulfill and would but on her own terms -later.

Even so, the brief couplings and experiments over those few visits home she made in that time frame had consequences. Both she and Ace had noticed that a lot of people misconstrued their actions and body language when they weren't careful enough to moderate their body language otherwise -although she was the one who was more paranoid about it. He was a notorious pirate after all. While he could be cautious, and properly paranoid about things -such as who his biological father is- he didn't let it rule his life. She wasn't at Moody's level but she had things that needed her 'good' reputation to use or abuse -so she was properly cautious over it. Examining those law books all those years ago had its benefits -once you figured out the legalese and thought about it. It was beneficial for all that she hated politics despite being very damn good at them as her time as a politician could contest to.

They were never boyfriend and girlfriend. They went from rivals to rivals and best friends then to rivals and best friends with benefits and then back to rivals and best friends. Their rivalry came first as their friendship was based on the fact that they had tried to kill each other quite often when they were little -after they had run into each other but before Garp thought of introducing them to each other and before they tried to off each other again to the shitty old geezer's amusement. They had at least learned each other's name that time. Ace had been such a rude boy with all the friendliness of a feral animal back then and she was a nice and proper girl if a bit of a tomboy. Their pride wouldn't allow them to put their friendship first -so they lied about that claiming it was for their rivalry and argued over a lot of trivial things such as who was truly older, who was stronger and who was the better older sibling.

Really, just because she was supposedly more mentally 'mature' given the various memories in her head didn't always mean that she always chose the 'right' thing to do. She wasn't a saint in this life either. She was her own person after all -not just that person reborn instantly upon remembering their past life which would be bad. Different world, different expectations and magic was rather hard to preform thanks to the lack of wands.

After all, she was _still_ finding bits of memory from that life popping up still randomly beyond all the obvious out of this world habits and thought processes. The mind can only deal with so much information at once before it complains in the form of a massive headache. A lifetime of learning and experience would obviously take a lot of time in digesting even if large portions of it became useless in this world such as history, laws, geography and what not. It would have been faster and less difficult to compromise her mind of that life and the mind of this life if she were younger when she remembered but that would have set up flawed expectations of the world and she had goofed in her previous life the ritual to store memories and magic in her soul. It was somewhat understandable in her previous life by forgetting to account for the venom which was partially expected given her ever declining ability to reason. So the trigger for her magic and memories to be unlocked in her next incarnation was partially sabotaged and needed an acceptable substitute catalyst. Sea King blood and the dangerous situation of being eaten had sufficed apparently and without the infertility and eventual insanity drawbacks that basilisk venom had as long as she maintained a few_ odd_ habits. Blood could be replenished -and the cost of that day nearly a decade ago was something she could deal with. Magic always had its costs even if a person was too blind to notice them outright.

Still that didn't change her situation. Sleeping was when a lot of information was processed and the learning of certain skills was perfected. These guys were just living practice dummies to her unconscious mind. Somehow during her sleep she had managed to slay a native beast of the Grand Line -that is to say big and dangerous to the average person- and half a dozen minions of her target while asleep. This meant that she couldn't get any more recent information from them since they were dead and she didn't even know their names although they weren't the first or the last of the nameless bodies she had ever left behind. As they were lacking weapons and presumably valuables -her friend had robbed the dead which was typical of the shameless fiend. At least he didn't eat them, or all of them she corrected as she examined the area more thoroughly. A few blood stains lacked bodies.

Breathe deep, rela -how did she forget about the smell? Ugh. Instant bad mood.

"I'm this close to strangling you." Aki growled out. "As it stands, I'm going to follow their trail back to their base and take my anger out on them and it because I don't care about tactics anymore. Then I'm going to hand over dear Danny boy to the nearest corpse exchange."

"How utterly inhuman and callous of you." The voice drawled. "You might want to work on hiding that part of you better."

"It's much harder being a moth than being a butterfly." She replied with annoyance evident in her voice. "Besides, on what basis are you qualified for giving lessons on being human to? Last I checked you weren't human, have never been except in looks when you wanted to and are quite proud of that."

"Because, humans are quite strange creatures who are far too cerebral and possess not enough instinct. Humans and those like them have to be taught what should be understood and even then they often don't _comprehend_ it. Even those that can become animals thanks to those foul fruits don't even compare to the glory that is instinct at its finest and most savage. You, my favorite human who isn't as human as she thinks she is, do possess those instincts and use them well. So you appear as a savage mockery of humanity to them if they ever catch you acting as you wish. How utterly foolish and herd-like of them and you."

"My foolishness and the state of my physical being isn't our topic of discussion. Really, how can I disagree with that statement to a degree? What I can't argue against is the benefits my partial lack provided me with. After all, humanity is more of a state of mind, is it not?"

Her previous self had miscalculated a few things as she had found out but she could enjoy the benefits and deal with the cons easily enough -for the most part. Have some wild, uncontrolled magic plus some foreign blood with the catalyst of sea salt and water? The result was impromptu, unexpected and uncontrolled blood ritual magic that also crossed into soul magic territory thanks to her past life's goof. In short she had lost quite a bit of her humanity then and there although the effects weren't always seen or felt for some years later. That was the problem of it being an uncontrolled and unfocused magic ritual -along with permanent faded scars. She had torn a fair few of those scars open over the years, so they weren't as smooth as they once were although she had been working some magic into the tissue so that the scars were purely cosmetic at this point.

The benefits of loosing some of that humanity was highly enhanced senses, enhanced strength and speed, small changes to her physical appearance such as much tougher nails capable of allowing her to easily scale up and over walls or mountains, a greater affinity for water, and parseltounge were quite the signs of something not being right -especially in this life after she started remembered more of her previous life in greater and greater detail. It took her a while to piece together a working theory of what the fuck happened that day she nearly died. She still wasn't quite sure that it was _completely_ correct. Whatever happened had its downsides beyond the mental stress of remembering her past life and all its issues even if they were well-deserved. Some people felt like _prey_ and instincts were annoying to ignore or suppress.

"What a novel idea, my bloody friend. How did you ever come to such a conclusion?"

"Oi! If I wanted sarcasm, I'd throw a pity party for myself." It said something about her that she had done so previously -with all the props associated with a little girl's tea party while drinking alcohol stout enough to kill a man if he wasn't careful instead of tea –complete with biscuits. Between her inherited alcohol tolerance from both sides of the family, her magic and whatever the result of that long gone afternoon's events had more or less made it near impossible to get drunk and stay.

"Would you share some alcohol then?" He questioned. He knew how protective of alcohol she was. While alcohol did little to her -she enjoyed the taste and burn of some of the brews and wines. It made her wonder from who or what she might have inherited her hard to notice masochistic tendencies from or if she had developed them in this one.

"Possibly, although why you want any I have no idea. No, scratch that. I do know, my brain just isn't fully awake yet." And she was in a bad mood. She wanted some stress-relief. Screw her earlier intentions of not using haki.

"Feel like joining me in clean-up after a quick check to see if he's still here?" Aki asked as she stilled, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Really, that's what most of the information she wanted was -was her target here? Then after releasing a few mental restraints on her ability she _focused with intent_. Using haki was all about focusing and will -finding a certain state of mind and staying there once a person had the power to. After getting that part was done, using haki was rather easy as long as your concentration wasn't broken –something that was hard to do for her as she remembered fighting after crucios and getting thunderstruck. Pain wasn't ever going to be able to distract her from using haki. Mental images of the environment, the island and its inhabitants appeared before her, but the distance between her and everyone else was meaningless. She felt excited heartbeats from miles away beat a cadence against her skin.

"If you'll feed me." He replied as if he hadn't eaten three people within the last hour.

"Scratch that. We're heading to town. This boredom induced hunt of small-fry can wait a while longer." Aki took off at a fast ground eating but stamina preserving loping run that she'd maintain until she hit the underbrush even though the animal trail she was currently barely deserved the name of trail.

"Town's under attack then?" He asked without needing to, as they ran towards town. Joy, he was being chatty today. "Ah, so it's the leading lady, Benihime, to the rescue?"

"What in the world gave you that idea?" She countered. "I left some of my things in my hotel room and there's currently a pirate raid going on at the moment. They'll end up going through my stuff and man-handling it all within ten minutes if they're any good at pillaging. Damn it! They can't have the newest of Sabo's books until I'm done with it!"

She pretended that she didn't notice her companion's epic face plant and skid that he shook off easily before catching back up to her with a glare before catching up with ease. That's professionalism at its best.

"How long until we get there?" He grumbled pleasantly as he was easily keeping up. She ignored his dark mutters about her sanity or lack thereof, his own craziness for following an insane person and complaints about the human race in general.

"At this speed? Less than three minutes. I can make it in less though, should I wish." She replied as she left the soon to be entangling underbrush with a jump and weaved through the lower hanging limbs like a monkey. She wasn't known for speed as much as other things as Benihime but that didn't mean she didn't have it in spades. Speed was one thing she had an excess of in terms of physical ability before it was enhanced with haki or magic.

"Are you even going to help out?" She asked him as she weaved through the island's forest with practiced ease. She might have had an actual childhood this time around but that didn't mean that it was normal –as most of the creatures here weren't that dangerous on this island meant that this bit of exercise was practice.

"If they attack me, I'll attack back. This is otherwise a human problem and I'm not human." He replied.

It wasn't that unexpected. He had no compulsions beyond survival to keep his abilities and opinions hidden after all.

"Yeah, yeah. A recent letter from a contact of mine puts Luffy nearby as well. Wanna come visit him?" She asked.

"It'll get me off this island, so why ever not?" He replied with his equivalent of a shrug.

"Like you actually need to purchase passage, or care about purchasing such. Stowaway." She commented, referencing his favorite way to travel.

"I'm ever lovable and you know it. That's why you feed me the good stuff." He retorted.

"You better earn it." She deadpanned, referring to her taking him on her ship.

Why couldn't she and her friends that she had made over the years all be blunt and crass? She and her 'crew' practically had another language of just sub-text and understanding intentions, another of pride and childishness, one more of confusing body language and the last was of insulting gestures that were commonly understood by the majority of people that took on a different meaning when together –especially on ship. In short, ship-speak was complicated and undeniably intricate.

"Oh, I will if it pleases the lady. I usually eat whoever attacks me, so I'll behave and not be so picky except location. Humans are such fickle creatures." He practically purred. Aki knew this to be true.

"People would prefer if you didn't eat them at all, at least in front of them. You eat them whole don't you?" She prompted.

"Clothes, and all." He confirmed.

* * *

Upon arriving in town it was chaos -which was to be expected during a pirate raid -pathetic pirate or not, most people didn't stick their necks out for others. The majority of the marauding pirates were quite easily stopped by batting the Captain out to sea with her sword still in the sheath from where he was commanding his crew in the town square. She really would have made a decent beater. She didn't hit the guy hard enough to break her distance record but he was even smaller reward than who she was hunting before at eighteen million. Most of the crew then ran after their Captain. The rest were easily put down without killing them and handed over to the town jail. This_ was Paradise_ after all. She didn't have to do anything beyond turn her jacket to its reverse side to show the dark red color off, preform a quick glamour and go to save her book -and the town. Hermione's book mania had really rubbed off on her, although some of her friends were also bibliophiles.

The matter of 'payment' was settled quickly for expediency's sake and other reasons. Far too many of the civilians felt like prey and the pirates were challenging _her_ authority. It was basic top predator behavior to defend what was hers -if only temporarily hers. She had stayed four nights here so far and she wasn't intending to make it a week. Even so, her companion managed to eat a few of those pirates -thankfully not in view of the citizenry. She knew it wouldn't be pleasant to experience or witness it. She earned quite a bit of gratitude -namely some supplies and a meal free of charge. She briefly wondered what would happen to those cameras that were trying to capture a picture of her? She wasn't restraining the effect of that aura spell after all.

She then explained to the grateful townsfolk that she was busy hunting someone else down that had made this island their base when she realized that she had forgotten something in her ship and that from where she had hidden it she saw the raiding pirates coming towards town. She claimed that she had forgotten her lunch, which was how she scored the free meal. Needless to say, she was lying her ass off because she had been using an alias at the hotel who looked quite a bit different to her and was reportedly examining the wildlife on the island. She was doing that to an extent -the best lies were always true in some fashion- but she had let the pretense and glamours fall once she was well out of town.

On the other hand, her companion was deeply amused and pretending to be absolutely harmless while soaking up some loving attention during that conversation. He was shameless like that.

She then loaded up the supplies she could use and fit on her ship which had been docked out of town for paranoia's sake, before using it to speed around near her mark's base. Her small little sailing ship was one that she preferred to use as she had captured several others ships for her private use over the past five years of serious bounty hunting. There were reasons she preferred to use it -she was rather fast, strong, easy enough to use on her own, could hold quite a bit in cargo, kept her in relative comfort, she was able to sail her in the ocean and rivers and the ship had her own modifications to it however minor those actually were. Hell, when done right she could even beach it if she needed to. The person who had originally owned it before it was taken by pirates who she got it from, had been specific in what he or possibly she wanted and got it. It might have been because she thought the person who commissioned the ship was likely a smuggler that it could do all it could with just a single person manning it and the Jubilance had worked as a smuggling ship before she stole it. She had a few captured ships over the years that were larger and several more that were smaller. They just weren't her favorite when in Paradise. Her favorite little ship wasn't meant for the New World's waters. Magic then made hiding the ship easy enough behind a few runic wards.

Her favored vessel was best described as the bastard child between a fifie and a junk. That is to say it was about forty feet in length, rode low in the water on its swing keel when fully loaded, and he had various bulkheads that also improved its overall strength and resisted sinking efforts. He was double masted with junk-rigged sails allowing her to sail somewhat into the wind while reducing effort of handing the sails as the rigging allowed her to stay in the center of her ship and control all the sails and the bilgeboards on the sides for when she had winched up the keel, and a high stern which held her cabin. Her ship could carry quite a lot all together including a few bounties in the lowest deck if needed.

She was quite fast in ocean and shallow waters and the sails were banded like a Junk's would be when the wind cooperated. When the winds weren't cooperative was when she had an engine from a jet dial from her time on various sky islands turned on. Her ship was balls at turning if you didn't know how to work with it and was a bit top heavy at times and had the some of the usual short-comings of the typical junk rig, but she knew how to use it well enough that it wasn't a problem even if she was all by her lonesome on her ship (1). The main problem was that the ship had only had one cannon. As such she usually ended up reverse pirating the pirates that tried to capture her little ship from out of cannon distance. She only captured their ships if she had enough friends with her to help her sail both.

Her other problem that was bugging her was that she actually felt like doing something decidedly out of character. As evidenced by the junk rigging on her ship -she didn't like exerting herself more than necessary for mundane tasks if she didn't have to. Training was an exception. She blamed the earlier massacre and the easy smack-down of the weak pirates from earlier for this. It had gotten her blood up.

"What are you smirking at woman?" Her smug non-human companion asked. He thankfully took little room on her ship -not that she didn't have enough room on it for the majority of her nakama to stay along with their things. Jubilance was huge for just herself after all and she had had it remodeled on the interior. She was pretty sure that she could fit most of her nakama in, even if they ended up cramped in but peace and the ship wouldn't last. They were opinionated, intelligent but private and prickly individuals for the most part which the fact that ship-speak existed proved.

Ryoko was her best female friend who destroyed various concepts like modesty. Birdbrain was given as a voice of sanity and the fact that she wouldn't let herself be left behind if she could help it. Fuu-chan who thanks to her devil fruit could navigate faster and easier without an actual log pose if she had been to the island previously among other nice benefits such as her sniping capabilities. They still had a log-pose obviously. Her trio kleptomaniacs for all their know-how of almost _everything_ and hilarious quirks which included being mostly nocturnal and bad mouthing any pickpocket that couldn't get exact change from a mark. Then there was her creepy polite and very much wanted doctor plus his odd pet. The medicine woman who she technically owned and was far too loyal was also someone she didn't want to leave out. Maybe, that blacksmith she knew of and had worked on her katana and made her short swords to her specifications. He was previously retired from the mercenary life, and would be an excellent addition if he could be convinced to join. He was powerful after all. Then there was her current non-human companion for sarcasm and witty commentary and that was all that would fit on her ship before they started at each other's throats for privacy and sanity's sake. There was also a limited amount of bed and bath space on Jubilance. Jubilance wasn't large enough for them all unless she wanted everyone miserable and two seconds away from committing murder.

This sucked as there were others that were nakama but couldn't fit on the ship. Nox for example, could also fit as if he had his sword and someone to swing at he was happy, but he was rather antagonistic most of the time and it would be like tossing a lit match onto a powder keg. Her little painter was also similar in that effect to Nox. There were others that were welcomed aboard, but they wouldn't fit on the ship or they wouldn't be able to join her at the moment due to the fact that they were infiltrating and spying for her. (2)

"I feel like being Garp-like at the moment -without the throwing cannon balls thing." She replied. "It seems like it would be fun."

"I think I feel a bit of pity for the mark now." He deadpanned.

"A lot of pity." He amended as he watched his favorite human jump up and over the distance between her ship and her target's while also slowing her own ship's speed and momentum well out of cannon range from the sheer force of her jump while not damaging her ship. The sheer force of gravity and her inertia due the weights he knew she wore wrecked the various decks of the targeted ship and most likely broke the ship's keel as well if she had landed on it. He knew when she jumped back to the deck as her targeted ship lost the masts and the sound of the chaos she was inflicting was music to his ears. She was reverse pirating without even being threatened first. Not for the first time he wondered how she didn't have a bounty from what he understood of human politics and government.

"Pity's gone, I'm decidedly entertained." He decided as a few unfortunate souls were tossed into the hidden warehouses. Knowing her, it was very likely that they hadn't gotten a bath in days if not weeks. She was picky about things like that. When things started to catch on fire he decided to join in as well. He wanted more to eat and he knew what the mark looked like. He was unlikely to eat him or mangle him -unlike an embarrassing previous time when he had destroyed the mark beyond recognition and thus payment.

* * *

A quick three day jaunt at full speed had them both at the nearest corpse exchange office. Those were intermediaries between various bounty hunters or pirates and officials that could pay those bounties, in short they were brokers. They were also professional about it and didn't pry into her business and she didn't pry into theirs. Two days later they had her money ready minus a small percentage based handling fee and she was heading towards Jaya's climate zone. She figured that Luffy had managed to get out of Alabasta's climate zone already but wasn't in Jaya's reach yet. If he didn't show up, she could try another island or actually track him down.

There were more or less seven main routes from Reverse Mountain to the Red Line. People didn't always stay on those seven main routes for various reasons that usually included horrendously long log-pose reset times, marines, pirates, bounty hunters, goods not selling there and a multitude of eternal poses exchanging hands over the years. She had no doubt that Luffy had acquired at least one of them as most people did the same to get around Little Garden which was after Whiskey Peak -if they even went that route in the first place. Having at least one eternal pose was common sense on the Grand Line -as rare as common sense was.

So she laid back in her boat and drifted in that area of the Grand Line while remaining in a light meditative trance as a way to expand her search area for his aura. She mostly passed time by re-reading some of the books she had on board which included a few of Sabo's works in between tawdry bodice rippers, meditating, stretching, exercising, swimming and going through her sword forms when she wasn't maintaining the ship and exchanging quips with her current traveling companion. A few days later this patience was rewarded as Luffy's aura finally pinged on her haki radar. Using haki in that fashion allowed her to make a systematic sweep at a range that wasn't possible when she was just monitoring things close by -at least for her yet. 'Close' was a poor word choice as she usually kept her range to about a mile. She had trained to make her haki more sensitive so she could get a better picture but the brain could only process so much information.

It was hard to confuse Luffy's aura for anything else and his devil fruit made it only more unique which might be why she was the only bounty hunter that she knew of that specialized in taking down devil fruit users. The only problem they might have when meeting up is the fact that when they would meet up it would surely be later than she had any right to expect Luffy to be up at. It didn't matter anyway as she'd most likely be up before he was anyway. Stupid soul-engrained rising with the dawn habits of a past life, she wanted to mutter about but didn't.

* * *

It was a typical morning for Sanji. He was the one that got up early, checked the food stores and made food for the lovely Nami-swan and Robin-chan -oh, and the rest of the bastards that were also on ship that included his captain, the long-nosed coward, the shitty swordsman and the emergency food supply a.k.a. their reindeer doctor. They were three stressful days away from Alabasta (3) and the wonderful desert flower by the name of Vivi! Robin-chan had appeared at the end of the first day and most of the crew had taken to having the mature and scholarly beauty aboard. Shitty marimo bastard couldn't appreciate her at all.

It was the fact that he was the first one up and on the way to the kitchen that he was able to hear someone playing an unusual melody outside and above the door of said kitchen and lounge. His first thought was '_Intruder_!' and his second as he jumped up the ladder from the men's quarters and turned his head was, _'Sweet mellorine!'_

The woman -for her measurements indicated that she was clearly no sweet young girl on the cusp of womanhood - was lovely with her pale cream skin. She had an attractive oval face and long attention grabbing crimson hair that was fluttering in the morning breeze all around her. He estimated it to be waist-length for the most part with some long bangs that were brushed clear of her face and trying to reach her shoulders. She was wearing a white dressy top that had been based on a tunic. He knew it was tunic based due to the criss-crossed strings on the bodice of the dress and the cut of the neck which was wide enough to show off some of her shoulders but high enough that he couldn't see her chest. The top was bound around her waist with a long red sash that was darker than the color of her hair. Unusually for the tropical weather of the Grand Line she was wearing a small dark red nearing black jacket over that that had long sleeves that only revealed her hands and her fingers but he went around in suits most of the time so who was he to call her on that. On her legs she was wearing tight brown shorts that were tied off at knee length and some strappy sandals while her ankles had a few anklets around both her ankles.

She was playing a carved wooden flute, some exotic melody that he couldn't identify with her eyes closed. It took him a bit to realize that she wasn't some sea siren but a woman made of flesh and blood that despite being beautiful she was also able to take care of herself as she had some serious weaponry. On her left leg sat a holster for what he identified as a gun unlike any he had seen before -it could however be a new model, like Mr. 5 had had. It was larger and longer than average so it probably fired a bigger bullet -he knew that much at least. At her side and tucked into her sash sat a blade that looked to be an unusual sword as it had a length of chain attached to the hilt with smaller chains woven into the wrappings of the hilt itself. The position of the blade and gun identified her as right-handed or someone who fought with a gun in her left and blade in her right. Not impossible, but it would be hard to do without practice with both weapons in both hands. Her hands showed evidence of this practice. So his final verdict was ambidextrous and as dangerous as she was beautiful. Such a capable beauty!

"May I be blessed with this wonderful lady's name?" He asked like any prince and lover of women should ask a beautiful lady. She played a few more notes and eventually removed the instrument from her lovely lips.

"Here I thought Ace told you guys. It's what he wrote in his latest letter along with what his little brother and his crew was last up to. He's back to being the worst best friend ever." The lovely siren said in a voice that he knew was lovely despite the rough words she had spoken.

"Ace?" The fire-fist bastard? They exchanged mail and he wrote about them? Already? What the hell had that fire bastard written about? He wasn't even with them all that long! More importantly, where did the bastard get the paper to write on?

"Luffy's older brother Ace? Commander of the Second Division of the Whitebeard Pirates? My annoying best friend that goes up in flames every so often?" She asked, trying to prompt his memory -not that it was faulty. He remembered that shitty bastard just fine. She was Luffy's foster sister! He knew she was beautiful! She propped her head on her hand as she tilted her face and bent closer. "So, the blond hair who smokes... Nice to meet you Sanji-kun! Do you think you could wake up the rest of the crew?"

"They'll get up on their own time." He replied coolly. Who cared about those shitty bastards? There was a beautiful lady right in front of him! He felt his heart flutter and beat faster.

"So you're making breakfast for the rest then?" She asked, even though she clearly already knew that answer. So intelligent! "My cat prefers any sort of meat and I think I'll have a cheese and cucumber sandwich or five if you have it to spare. I don't particularly care what I'll eat if you don't have the resources for it."

"Cheese and cucumber?" Sanji asked. That was an unusual combination.

"Blame Luffy. He tried to steal my food; I stabbed him with a fork. Then I ate it in front of him and it grew on me from there." She said in a remarkably uncaring manner. "I found it was worth it. So sandwich?"

"I'll get right on it. Mellorine!" To the kitchen! He had to feed the lovely, lovely ladies! Oh, lucky day! There were three lovely ladies on board now!

* * *

Aki turned to her little black cat that was currently kitten sized. "I don't think he even noticed you, Nundu. That's just plain depressing as I mentioned you directly."

"Who cares?" The cat named Nundu replied in a posh human sounding voice out loud (4). It was a surprisingly nice, smooth and deep baritone. He was a bit busy with blending into the shadows cast by her and the trees.

"Just continue playing right?" She asked the cat.

"That would be the correct assumption." The kitten-sized black cat replied in a droll tone as he tilted his head, showing off the small purple star earring in his right ear. He was adorable if you ignored the beady black eyes glinting with an unholy light and the cheshire grin full of sharp shark like teeth.

"Spoiled rotten cat." She complained.

"Spoiled rotten logia cat." The cat corrected with all the snootiness associated with felines everywhere.

Aki laughed at that, and then she shrugged and let her fingers fly over the hand carved flute's holes. It wasn't her fault that the world here couldn't recognize the piece. The original piece was a wizarding funeral dirge played quite often during memorials and anniversaries. It was also one of those songs that the listeners are better off without knowing the words. She was also playing it much faster than it should have been as it was a dirge with a dash of jazz influence. It sounded remarkably cheery.

Hagrid had given her a flute back in her first year -she did learn how to use it properly given time even if she wasn't remarkably brilliant with it. It seemed rude to not to learn how to use a flute after all the trouble the half-giant had gone through to carve it out. Her musical selection was rather limited off the top of her head. Second years had the largest amount of free-time available until flying lessons were over for the firsties and those were done by the time the Quidditch season rolled around in November. It was an extraordinary amount of free time compared to the rest of the students as third through fifth years had the core classes plus at least two extra to deal with. Sixth and seventh years had a lot of work to do by the sheer volume assigned to them by the professors for the average student took four or five NEWT classes. She had eventually trained a few of Hagrid's creatures to respond to musical commands from that flute for her NEWTs in Care of Magical Creatures. Actually taking the NEWT classes in Care when taught by Hagrid was part of the reason that the school considered her monster mad. That carried over into this life. Ace was good with nicknames -Yajuu-hime indeed.

This flute however was a gift from two of her nakama once they found out she could play. Her kleptomaniacs truly knew how to do just about everything or could fake it very well if they didn't know the specifics. One was her principal shipwright as her main ship was wooden and he could manipulate it if he concentrated enough -but he didn't even have to either as he knew the job. The other thief's devil fruit didn't allow such versatility in its use -it was one of those that were practically useless- so he had an odd hodgepodge of skills from various jobs he had before he fell into thievery. The third was the youngest and specialized in information and espionage.

Why they all even ended up being friends much less nakama when they had bounties and she was a bounty hunter was something she still didn't understand. Maybe it was the fact that she had accidentally caused the cruise ship they were robbing blind and with much stealth in North Blue to collide with an iceberg and start slowly sinking and had to share a lifeboat with them for hours while coming up with ways to hide the illicitly gained gold and loot? That was probably it, but it still wasn't her fault entirely...

* * *

Breakfast for the pirates quickly turned into bedlam. There was order but it was hard to get anything done or get anywhere. She had moved into the lounge of the ship after she had finished with her flute and stored it in her jacket. There was only so much to do when killing time and waking other people up before breakfast was ready was rude unless they had asked for it. It might have been why she had been re-reading Sabo's latest anthology. The love struck cook had been lavishing attention over her from a respectable distance and the food while he was cooking breakfast for the rest of the crew. It sucked that they were out of cucumbers as she didn't have any of those either. She liked those even if it inspired Kappa inspired nicknames from several other people including her nakama.

Luffy had obviously been lured in by the smell as he pounced on the food before he even noticed she was there. The rest of his crew however noticed that she was there.

"Oi! Shit-cook! Who the hell is she!?" A man with green hair, three swords and three dangling gold earrings in his left ear demanded. He seemed familiar, but it took the seeing Birdbrain's heirloom sword for the identity to click. Either she had estimated his age wrong years ago or he had been a late-bloomer. Either way, she'd have to get Ryoko to stop teasing Birdbrain about being a shota-con. She'd have to stop too, but not until she'd done it one last time.

She then watched as the chef and swordsman argued in the kitchen creating a veritable block at the door.

"Anchor, your crew's kinda crazy in the good way aren't they?" She asked Luffy while ignoring the ruckus caused by said crew.

"Yeah! It's more fun that way! Zoro's got three swords! Sanji kicks and he makes good food!" The two squabbling men turned to look at the both of them once they were mentioned with the most perplexed expressions on their faces.

"What about the others?" She led the questions on as the crew past through the two and Luffy introduced them as they went through.

"Chopper transforms and is a doctor!" The cute little reindeer quickly hid behind the swordsman –badly. Her hands were twitching. He was adorable. She wanted to pet and cuddle him. "Usopp tells awesome stories and is a great shot!"

"Yasopp's kid Usopp?" She asked for clarrification.

"Yeah!" Luffy confirmed which made Usopp cry in she assumed happiness as he was muttering 'he didn't forget about me' and other things of the same nature repeatedly. That was her good deed of the week. "Robin's really smart since she can read the pony-stones and so is Nami 'cause she can predict the weather but Robin isn't greedy like Nami nor as violent!"

"Got that right." She heard the swordsman mutter. Apparently that was the start of a new squabble fixed by the intervention of the ship's navigator and apparent voice of common sense.

"Hi, I'm Nami." The navigator introduced herself. "This idiot is-"

"You don't have to bother with introductions." She smiled at her perplexed look. "Ace told you lot about me and he wrote me about you. He even mentioned who and what you all looked like. So just pretend that we've already been introduced." She explained with a chesire cat smile.

"He what?" She squawked and Aki assumed she was mad at Ace now or her own lack of manners. She was leaning towards Ace.

"He was as accurate as always, but he missed Miss Robin so I'll assume she just recently joined?" Luffy nodded rapidly for her own answer as his mouth was too full to be understood. "Why?" He gulped it down in a grotesque display so he could speak clearly.

"She said I was responsible for her as I saved her life or something like that. I don't care. Nakama are nakama right?"

"Yes, nakama are nakama but I was worried about you, Anchor. Intelligence isn't your strong suit after all so it's nice that your crew has intelligent people on it."

"Clarify something for me, but Ace as in Fire-fist Ace wrote you -who judging by rumored information -a bounty hunter known as Benihime? Aren't you usually out of this area?" Robin asked. It was apparent she was wondering how long the Strawhats knew Ace and all the connections and bonds between them all.

"Ah, infamous pirate that he is, Ace has been my best friend since childhood, so it's not unusual that we keep in contact even with our difference of profession. Even with that, I'm not always working nor do I have to obey anyone other than myself when I do." She explained. "Letters are easiest for us as we have issues with den den mushi such as the marine's eavesdropping habits. Speaking of letters," Aki continued without paying any heed to her psuedo-sibling's crew beyond what she deemed necessary, "I have one from Sabo to give you, Anchor."

"What's with the anchor comments?" Sanji questioned.

"Sabo sent me a letter?" Luffy questioned ignoring the dreaded childhood nickname entirely. It was only due to long years of exposure that she knew what Luffy was saying through his food. His crew really needed to stop watching their conversation and start eating or they wouldn't have any breakfast left. It was why she ate earlier.

"It's not that surprising. It seems like I play messenger hawk while I'm on this side of the Grand Line more than I play hunting dog." She commented as she reached into an inner pocket of her jacket and dragged the pages out. "Sabo's crew was messing with his ink again since he's been so busy, so it's pretty colorful and not just in language either. He and his crew are a colorful bunch altogether." The first page alone could attest to that fact since it managed to change colors six different times. She sometimes wondered if Sabo had managed to grab every single color blind and fashion hopeless person in the world for his crew as they dressed in clashing colors and patterns that did horrible things to her eyes.

"So what's he saying?" Luffy asked as he stuffed his face.

"Want me to paraphrase it?" She clarified.

"Yeah."

"You read his mail?" The sniper asked.

"If it was especially sensitive it wouldn't be entrusted to Luffy. He can't lie worth a damn so a person could actually find out what secrets and information he's hiding by asking in such a way that he'd have to lie. It's so annoying. So the half a page version of a six page letter is, '_Luffy, welcome to the Grand Line and congrats on your first bounty. Thirty million isn't bad to start off with but it's lacking a zero and then some sums when compared to mine or Ace's. Catch up soon, would ya? I've got a gentleman's bet riding on the fact that you'd have a bounty over two-hundred fifty million before you reach Sabaody. I would come by and visit myself but I'm busy working for the revolution._"

She ignored the crew's gasps and shocked reactions. Sabo had officially been a revolutionary since he was eighteen. He had the spirit of one for longer than that and a hatred of the World Government since Gray Terminal burned.

_"I've lost quite a bit of sleep just by making time for writing my books but the work's gratifying to say the least. I wish you luck, so take care of yourself and your crew. The nice older brother, Sabo. P.S. When we do meet again, tell me of your adventures. It'll be nice to chronicle the second Pirate King's adventures._' The majority of the letter can be ignored as he also took down notations and observations of a few islands that he went past or heard about while writing the letter and that's in a rather complex cipher actually. One of our personal ciphers and not one of the revolution's actually. He also groused about the lack of good paper at hand for like a page and a half in it for a proper letter that he didn't end up using as a notepad by mistake. He was creative in that at least."

"Revolutionary!?"

"Sabo?"

"Older brother!?"

"The Gentleman Pirate?"

"Shishishi. I like this colorful one better." Luffy replied. "What islands did he cipher in whatever that means?" Luffy asked.

"He put it in code silly. The islands are Autratch, Barbariccia, Calcalbrina, Eblan and Fulsollazzare."

"Are they interesting?" Luffy questioned.

"You can always find something interesting if you open your eyes and look, Anchor." Aki told him. "Hmm...Fulsollazzare is the closest as it's not only on the Grand Line; it's on this side of the Grand Line. The main attraction there is the quarterly festivals at midsummer, midwinter and the equinoxes. I've only managed to attend the midsummer bonfire festival there. Its island wide and a week long."

"Let's go there Aki-nee-san!" Luffy demanded. "Wait! Don't call me Anchor! I'm not a little kid anymore!"

"Can't to both as you've probably forced your crew to fish you out at least once and so deserve being called Anchor and I don't have the eternal pose for Fulsollazzare. Your current route doesn't pass anywhere close to it either." Aki pointed out logically before moving in for the kill. "Besides, you'll have missed the bonfires by the time you get there even if I had the appropriate eternal pose by a week at least even with full sails and favorable conditions if I'm remembering its relative location correctly."

"Awww!" Luffy whined. "Wait, then how do you know about that?"

"Dahahaha! Baka-mugiwara. I've been in and out of the Grand Line for years. Of course I know stuff like that or I know someone that does."

"How?" Luffy prompted.

"Ah. That's right. I didn't tell you. Dahahaha! While I'm on this side of the Grand Line, I'm on vacation and so are my nakama until we decide we're not." She pointed out.

"Vacation? So you won't be hunting me or my crew?"

"You just _now_ decide to ask that? Baka. I don't hunt anyone I don't want to. I'd hate to hunt down my best friend, his family and some of my nakama after all." That she knew would throw a few people for a loop. "I'm not one of the government's pets on a leash after all, nor do bounties under a certain amount tempt me unless I'm that bored, desperate for beri or they mess with my stuff or my nakama."

"That's a relief." Luffy commented.

"However, that doesn't mean that I haven't hunted on this side of the line while vacationing. A girl's got to eat after all." She chimed in with a wink, before she fully explained a reason why. "Besides, all this is, in truth, is a way to kill time until my nakama finish up their various errands on this side of the Grand Line and elsewhere in the world. Then we'll meet up at Sabaody and it's back to the other side where all the fun is."

Nundu meowed in agreement.

"Aren't you worried about them or do you care about them at all?" Robin asked. Aki knew she seemed callous but to not care about them? Never. Not like them -sometimes. Want to toss them overboard -quite often. Tossing them overboard –rarely and she usually let them back on.

"I'm not worried in the least about them." She admitted with her chin propped on her right hand. She knew that she had surprised them. "My nakama wouldn't be my nakama if I didn't believe in them enough to _not worry_. It's called having faith in their abilities and judgment, even though a few are devout troublemakers." Aki replied. She didn't worry, some were troublemakers through and through but they were canny enough to get away with it.

"Why do you worry about me and Ace then? We're strong!" Luffy questioned.

"Because you're both idiots." Aki replied bluntly.

"Shishishishishi. You haven't changed a bit Aki-nee-san! You're still mean." Luffy complained.

"Were you expecting me to? Honestly, I can be a blockhead at times, but nothing as bad as either of you. I can see you've gotten stronger, but you're not big enough to worry me yet! Anything under fifty million is nothing but small-fry after all, Mr. Thirty Million!"

"I beat Crocodile!" Luffy yelled back.

Aki frowned from across the table.

"I heard something about Crocodile losing his Shichibukai spot, but I didn't get much more than royalty, pirates and marines were involved and somehow Baroque Works was disbanded. Wasn't paying attention to such a thing really."

"How could you not pay attention to something like that? Didn't Ace write anything about what was going on in Alabasta?" Nami pointed out.

"He would have, but he only had so much paper and after updating me on how his hunt for that traitor was going, some personal stuff and you guys -there was only so much room. Then when the newspaper came out, I was more focused on the crossword puzzle." Aki explained gaining a variety of looks. She mused aloud. "So little Luffy beat the big, bad Crocodile and I'm assuming that word of that has filtered through official channels by the 'White Hunter' formerly of Lougetown or by Alabasta's King Cobra. That means that Luffy's bounty should increase by quite a bit. The rule of thumb for increasing bounties under a hundred million is the rule of thirds..."

"Rule of thirds?" Chopper asked.

"A quick and dirty way to figure out the power of a bounty based on who beat who and the bounty that they had." Zoro explained. "I didn't know there was a monetary cap to it though."

"Basically you work with thirds of a person's bounty so that increases in it aren't too dramatic from the marine's standpoint unless someone does something horrendously reckless and gets away with it. For example, take the amount of two-thirds of the winner's or in this case, Luffy's bounty and you add the loser's or Crocodile's to it if the winner's was at least lower than it by a half otherwise you only add a third of the loser's bounty to the winner's bounty. By that reckoning, it makes Mr. Thirty Million here become Mr. Hundred Million if I'm right about it."

"Wahoo! A hundred million! Yes!" Luffy yelled. She took the opportunity to beat up on him a little with a casually thrown fist to the top of his head.

"Don't get overexcited Anchor. It's not official until the new posters come out. As for the rule of thirds itself, it's not an official rule, it's just something of a pattern a person notices after a while when bounty hunting after a while or they're told about it."

"So why the hundred million limit?" Nami asked.

"Politics," Aki explained with a scowl, "usually enters the fray from there and can vastly inflate or deflate the reward compared to the person's strength based on other factors such as lineage, political connections and whatnot. The Shichibukai for instance don't have bounties on their heads and if they've improved or declined in strength since gaining the position it isn't reflected in their bounties as they don't have them active at least."

"Are the politics that important?" Sanji asked.

"Somewhat. It usually mucks things up in the bounties under five-hundred million range. The person who has gotten the closest to killing me yet didn't have a bounty issued by the marines at all while I've had a surprisingly easy time with a few that were above two hundred million by myself and they had friends. Good times."

Nundu meowed again.

"Is this about the logia that you would like to chop into pieces, grill and feed to your cat?" Luffy asked.

"Luffy," Aki said slowly as she was trying to make a point to him, "there's no guarantee that Nundu would even wait past the 'he's dead' part before eating him."

Nundu meowed and grinned showing off his sharp and shark-like teeth looking impressively evil from her lap. Honestly, that cat. She was less surprised that the cat had frightened the sniper and the doctor. Ace was accurate in his description of the crew.

"But as I'm keeping your crew from their food, I'll go back to my ship for a while. As I currently have my ship tied up and following yours, feel free to act like you captured it. You're pirates after all, but since you actually haven't means you can't raid my ship so stow any ideas about that before they even take root. I don't want to cause a rift between me and Luffy because his crew couldn't behave and I had to discipline them for him." Aki explained as she got up from her seat at the table and placed Nundu on her shoulder.

"Wait a second. You fight Mihawk blade to blade on a regular basis right?" The swordsman asked with a dark grin.

"Usually a few times a year." She answered truthfully as they usually fought a few times in late February. She fought and he humored her to varying degrees. She was damn good, but he was still far better. "Why?"

"I want to see how much I've improved and how much I still have to go to be the best."

"Ah." Aki said. She was used to this from Birdbrain. Fighting Kuina's rival would be interesting. "That's all? We'll spar on my ship. No offense intended Luffy, but you really need a proper shipwright and if you've 'captured' mine then it should have a bit of damage to it."

"None taken. I want to watch this! Shishishishi!"

"Good, I want to see how well Kuina's rival has grown as a swordsman. Can't have you not measure up. Be bad for a rivalry to be the best after all if the rival can't keep up."

* * *

A/N: More Aki. I just noticed that she's really Robin-like at times when it comes to intelligence and morbidity at times -although she's far less passive. Far too independent. By the way, Aki's sword isn't Ichigo's bankai. She knows a damn good blacksmith so what it was originally has been modified, and the chains are needed for the sword modifications to hold. In short, it's magical now –and cursed.

(1) Go wikipedia! Junk-rigs are awesome for those who don't have constant companions or are lazy inclined -scroll down until you see Herber "Blondie" Hasler who modified his little folkboat and won second place in the first trans-Atlantic race. He didn't even have to leave his cabin with the junk-rig. As Aki's ship is bigger than Hasler's and has a different base (it was a smuggler's ship before it was captured a few times and ended up in her possession) it required different things to be such a ship. Things like the swing-keel so it could even be beached instead of anchored elsewhere while still capable of ocean-faring. Bilgeboards are for when the keel is swung up so that it could become river capable while remaining stable. It's still a small ship in proportion to what it could be -it's just large for a single person and the interior/cargo space is maxed and the hull reinforced thanks to the bulkheads leaving limited room for crew and facilities. The main problem she has with it is the fact that it has next to nothing for offensive purposes. Smuggling ship –if it gets caught, something's gone wrong and fire power won't help it. So instead of trying to fight a long range battle that she would not win, she instead boards their ship from out of cannon range, wrecks it quite thoroughly, beats the crew and steals all their stuff leaving them to chance and fate at getting to the next island in a ship is crippled beyond repair. As she's usually in the Grand Line -not a lot of survivors make it to the next island. Unusual weather phenomena, giant sea creatures, starvation, infighting, other pirates or even marines all contribute to the loss of a lot of her reverse-pirating victims. That's not even counting the fact that she usually breaks the back of the ship and the chain-of-command of the crew along with the main method of propulsion of the majority of ships shown in OP -the mast, sails and rigging are usually totaled beyond repair _unless_ she's with friends when they then capture the enemy ship and some crew and then they go and sell it. The crew members that aren't captured or deemed useful and harmless are usually thrown overboard or given a dingy.

(2) Hey, hints to her crew. A small number of them are OCs based on borrowed concepts/character from various places. Ryoko for instance is an OC that is based on a Viera. Birdbrain has been mentioned previously in this story and is Kuina. Fuu-chan is a nickname and she's is also borrowed from a game almost exactly. The 'Kleptomaniacs' are from different sources. Nox is borrowed from a game -no alterations necessary beyond making up an island for him to be from. OP has dragons, so he's fine. There are others, they're just not mentioned at the moment but they will be. Feel free to guess who and from where the character or their concepts are borrowed from like Nundu is. While it's possible to make a crew of entirely OCs, I'd prefer not to.

(3) In the manga Robin gets discovered, accepted into the crew (for the most part) in the same chapter they discover the St. Briss. While the caravel ships are fast I refuse to believe that the Going Merry goes that damn fast to cover so much distance between Alabasta and Jaya in like a day. So they didn't.

(4) You probably thought Nundu was something else. I hinted about the cat in Chapter 12. When dealing with a devil fruit she "would sooner sell, toss it overboard, feed it to a pet or give it away to a random stranger than eat it as she had previously done all of those to just about everyone's shock." About the cat being named Nundu -I couldn't resist. His devil fruit ability is the reason he's named Nundu -and it isn't because he has plague breath like an actual Nundu would, but his ability is similar to it. He's a hedonistic genius (as evidenced by learning how to speak and other things that will become evident next chapter) and unless he's fighting someone that can use haki very well his enemy has no chance and will end up dead. I wonder how many can guess what kind of logia he is? It's rather haxx, but not more so than most logia already are as he explored/maxed his abilities further than Crocodile. However for the haxxing to work a person or cat has to be intelligent enough to know how to work it for max effect. Nundu's character has been making me study biology and chemistry over summer break.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N; This was originally meant to be out by _Sept 3rd_. I have a lot of reasons why that didn't happen, but no solid excuse. Sorry to all those I disappointed with the wait and thanks to all those that were patient with me.

Let me explain further. There was a lot of RL interference. It's not that I didn't work on BV. The earlier chapters got edited for clarity and content. So go read those. Then this chapter alone went through ten complete re-writes; god knows how many partial re-writes and other revisions. I just wasn't happy with it.

Figures that it would be Luffy's perspective that finally made this work. Sorry for the chatter, but it's Luffy.

And before any Zoro fans say I made him too weak –he hasn't learned the flying slash yet. Or some of his more impressive techniques. And Aki has had _years_ in the Grand Line in comparison. It's no contest. See the sword skill scale at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 25: Blades and Conversation Blunders

"You're ship isn't as nice as Merry." Luffy complained upon seeing it. It was of similar length, but was narrower. It had two masts which _was_ neat, but it didn't have a neat figure head like Merry's sheep. The wood was darker and the sails were a faded blue. His sister's ship seemed _sneaky_.

"Of course Jubilance isn't." Aki-nee-san sighed. "The Jubilance was a smuggler's ship to being with, before the remodel and that was a lot of internal work. So 'Lance doesn't have to be nice. Just sneaky, really fast and adaptable."

That made sense, Luffy thought as he looked at the ship and saw that the Jubilance matched his sister. "I see. Are your nakama here?"

"You weren't paying attention were you Luffy?" She chuckled lightly. "At the moment we're pretty scattered." She explained calmly. "The majority of us have errands to do, and it's faster for us to split for them. It would take us years otherwise because we'd distract each other, get caught up in something else and some of those errands are quite urgent."

"So I'm not able to meet Ryoko? Unfair!" The young pirate complained. He had heard quite a bit about that bunny-girl over the years so he wanted to meet her. Simple as that.

"She's around. She went to visit her home island for a while. That place is crazy enough that _I'm wary_ _of it of even visiting that place._"

"Awesome!" And kind of scary. Big sis cared more about what people thought of her than Luffy thought she should, but an island wasn't just people. It was plants and animals and land and adventure. She didn't mind that at all. And she wasn't scared of that island, but _wary_. So it was super dangerous! And the bunny-girl lived there! Cool! "And the others?"

"Those two kleptomaniacs of mine decided to do inventory of their illicitly accumulated wealth. That'll take at least a month and then because they'll get bored, I fully expect the Syldra to be re-decorated and stocked at the very least. Doc is traveling along with his lovely and dangerous assistant. I believe that he's doing or researching something that's probably highly illegal, but I'm not going to ask for specifics. It's over my head for the most part. Remarkably brave man nonetheless. Nox has Duckling and Potemkin. Something about an infestation of the mines. Fuu-chan has her shop open and running. She has the most irregular hours for a shop ever so she didn't have to borrow my minion for that though."

Luffy nodded, as he listened to his big sister fondly speak about her nakama. She sounded normal but he could tell that she was sad, so she was probably keeping herself busy, busy, busy. She was weird like that. Scary too, 'cause she would also train, train, train or maybe fight, fight, fight. How did his brother put it? He doubted that anyone worked so hard to be so lazy or something.

"Minion? You have a minion?" Nami screeched.

"Minion is apparently easier on the ego than secretary if you're a guy." Aki replied candidly.

Luffy thought that being regulated to a minion was pretty demeaning, but being a secretary was a girl's job so Luffy could see why he'd prefer to be a minion, although it still had to suck.

"Why would a bounty hunter need a secretary?" Zoro asked.

"Because the bounty hunter knows how to invest and not get conned out of her hard earned money, silly." She replied. Zoro got this funny expression on his face, which was strange since big sis hadn't gone into 'teacher mode' or done anything that involved manipulating him yet. "So said bounty hunter owns or is a partner to a number of businesses that are successful and thriving."

"You don't seem the type." Nami commented. The tone was weird. So Nami didn't like big sis? Then again, Nami was mean and big sis was mean, so it was like how big sis explained that girl mystery thing that he had totally forgotten about. They should just fight and work out their differences that way. It would be faster.

"I _know_ I don't. That's why I can safely call myself _eccentric_ (1). I worked for my bounties, but I grew up practically running a small business when I wasn't trying to keep the idiots out of trouble. Owning and running businesses are completely different things but they require similar skills, depending on how involved you are with it. So it was a pretty easy transition, and if you get good managers who have a good idea, then you practically have to do nothing but provide the start-up cash, make a contract that explains who does what and what they get for it, and hundreds of other details that are involved in making a business from the ground up. Sometimes all that's needed is new management and money for renovations to turn a failing business around into a profit." His older sister explained, slipping into business lady mode.

"That seems easy." Usopp commented.

"It's really not, but it sort of is. It's a lot easier now that the banking system in many places started accepting monetary transfers by Den Den Mushi and then you can pick the money at any of their branches. Due to the target that they present they're usually next to a military installation. That still doesn't mean that you don't need to have the money to begin with after all. That has actually motivated a few of my hunts. Profits are such that I now earn oh, two hundred million and change for doing next to nothing and that's all legal profits after taxes, costs, and reinvesting half that back into the businesses for rainy day funds, renovation funds and paychecks. (2)"

"Two hundred million?"

"Yes, that's just for last quarter though (3). Sales spike in summer and winter quarters, so expectations are estimated to be a bit higher. I don't think the estimated profits would change but I feel that several other things will since change is the only constant there is that's dependable and fall quarter is always messy. If I knew exactly what it was, I'd make a quick fortune off of it. Demand's gonna soar for a few things, but that just means profits and changing alliances on _at least thirty_ fronts. The other holdings and businesses are far more stable and smaller, generally."

Luffy watched as his crew had varying reactions. Nami was stiff; Sanji's cigarette had fallen out of his mouth since his mouth was wide open and the others were all bug-eyed.

He didn't see the problem with his sister being rich. He had known that she had never hurt for money and had plenty of it, as she either worked for it or stole it. He just hadn't known that she was _that_ rich.

"I can see why you'd need a 'minion' then." Robin replied as soon as she recovered.

Robin had worked under Crocodile, Luffy remembered, so she was a cross between a secretary and minion then or something. It didn't matter. She was his now. Luffy also had no trouble admitting that this stuff bored him, but his older sister had this stuff as like a hobby and something to focus on when she had nothing else to do.

"He just manages the smaller legit ones. The larger ones need a personal touch, although it isn't Benihime doing such. Having civilian aliases makes things like taxes a pain in the ass though on the larger company fronts since they are legal entities and have to act like it which is annoying. (4) I'm myself when dealing with the more illegal trades. They make far more profit and take less work overall, but it's harder to get something like a report of the quarterly or monthly earnings from those businesses. (5)"

"Is that why your ship was a smuggler's ship?" Luffy asked.

"It still is when I'm carrying something illegal or untaxed. A contact of mine wants a few barrels of the oils from Alabasta for perfume reasons, but it wasn't that high of a priority. I have until September and it's not even July yet. I suppose circumstances wouldn't allow you guys to… never mind. You've got my head thinking about profit margins instead of people."

"They want that stinky perfume?" Chopper asked.

"No. They want the oil base for it." She explained, now in teacher mode. "Then once they get it, she'll mix it with other things and use or sell the perfume depending on what they make. She's the one behind the 'Day' series of perfume, although she's borrowed my nose quite a bit for it as well." She slipped out of teacher mode and back to herself. "Before I met my contact, I had no idea that perfume could be such a formidable weapon or potent poison. Despite being something akin to friends, she still likes to poison me quite often."

"The Day series!" Nami sputtered. "She makes that! That stuff goes for a ten thousand per ounce! (6)"

"And you're friends with someone like that!?" Usopp asked.

Luffy just sat back and listened. Had his big sis let herself get poisoned or was that other lady just that good? 'Cause even he knew that in order to get poisoned, a person had to get hit by it and it was _hard_ to hit his sis.

"It's complicated." Benihime explained with a casual hand wave, ignoring Nami entirely.

"Is it?" Luffy asked.

"There's really no way to simplify it, so I'd have to tell the entire story and include a lot of background and if I did that, I'd be betraying trusts and it would take all day, so I'd rather not say more."

Luffy understood that much. It was like the situation with him, Ace and Sabo. They were family, but trying to explain it to someone else and they _wouldn't_ get it.

"How complicated could it be?" Nami asked. "You're either friends or you're not!"

"I guess I could hit the highlights of our association. There was betrayal from her client that I was hunting which caused some confusion, having to work together to beat him because she is good, her creepy work partner who tried to kill me while pretending to not know that I wasn't working for the traitor client didn't help, and having run into an ex-boyfriend of hers and his friend who tried to prevent her from her job. Then there's the time we fought because she was transporting something that I didn't want to get into someone's hands. We ended up lost and that was a good thing as someone else moved to take out her client and the two wiped each other out. Then there was the time that I was transporting something and had to deal with her ex-boyfriend and his business partner stealing my cargo and handing it over to her to transport to someone else and a few other things over the years that have put us at odds."

"Sounds like your rivals then." Sanji stated.

"If only so. We're _professionals_. We went on a shopping trip, did a heist of a museum with a friend of hers, and had a sleepover. Did our nails and everything. We've also hired each other to do errands for the other, so that's another complication. I might have also killed her creepy yet very good partner forcing her to change operations sooner than she would like. Then we're something akin to business partners, as I'm getting a small cut of the profits from the perfumes she's borrowed my nose for. I also have the keys to her place, so I can crash whenever."

"Does that count as blatant manipulation and blackmail for profits?" Nami asked. Luffy didn't get what Nami was referring to. From what he heard, his sis had killed a guy that the perfume lady worked with. The perfume lady was planning on getting out of the business in the first place and since his sis had interrupted her plans by killing her business partner his sis had probably reimbursed her for a lot of the lost profits which allowed the perfume lady to start the perfume business in the first place.

"So you're rivals and friends?" Luffy asked. He had no idea what the whole sleepover thing was about so he figured that it was a girl friendship mystery thing and left it at that.

"I'm forgetting some of the other things in this list, but not that kiss. Bitch. There was no reason for tongue." She scowled before admitting, "Well, actually considering that she did paralyze me and we were against each other at the time, that kiss was warranted. My Doc has hated her ever since though. Can't even say her name around him. I can't say his around her either, but he's been Doc since I picked him up so his name isn't said all that often anyways."

"That does sound complicated." Robin said amused.

"We're _professionals_. We're rivals when we freelance and end up against each other. We're friends, business partners and clients otherwise. It's really not complicated, but it is because other people make it so." Aki-nee-san complained.

"So why didn't you say it was as simple as that?" Luffy asked.

"Because people are crazy and it's complicated to them."

Luffy agreed. People liked to make things more complicated than what they should be.

"And I'd really like to get my fight in." Zoro complained.

"So impatient." Aki-nee-san complained with a pout.

"You're not any better." Luffy reminded her, chiding her the same way Ace always did.

"Shush. Nundu, give me a blade I can spar with." She commanded the cat.

Luffy watched the little black cat that had been on the railing of the Merry sprout a multitude of blades. That was awesome! It was like a kitty porcupine! Cool!

"You're not going to fight me with the one in your hand?" Zoro asked.

"If I _fought_ you as you are, especially with this blade, _I'd kill you_." His big sister stated as serene as the Calm Belt, as she browsed through the blades. "I'm sure that being dead is a state of health that people want to avoid. A number of people would also be displeased with my lack of restraint, including myself."

"Are you certain of that?" Zoro questioned.

"Oh, yes. Kuina would be pissed at me to say the very least. Nox would try to kill me for depriving him of a play-mate even though he hasn't met you yet. Ryoko would complain about the fact that she can't tease Kuina anymore. Kuina's so straight-laced at times it isn't funny. Luffy would be mad since you're his nakama and I killed you, and I would be mad at myself since I remember saying something about teaching a few things, or sparring years ago. Although, now that I've seen you all grown up, I can't say that Kuina's a shotacon anymore."

"Shotacon?"

"That shitty marimo?"

"I might have explained to Ryoko how I met Kuina when we ran into each other a few years back, and that was the result of the conversation. I had just thought of you as 'Crabgrass.' Kuina has been 'Birdbrain' for the longest time, but she's recently moved up to 'Duckling.' The last person that would be displeased with my lack of restraint would be Mihawk. He has marked you as his, so he'd be disappointed. It's hard to mistake Yoru's aura for anything else. That scar _has_ to stretch from collar to hip, judging by the aura even though I haven't _seen _it. And Mihawk marks few things as his for he doesn't care about most things, but what he does mark as his, he is quite possessive of."

Luffy watched his crew, with the exception of Robin, recoil in shock at the continued barrage of random information. He supposed that they just didn't get the difference between a fight and a _fight_. A fight was like a playful argument that Zoro and Sanji had regularly. A _fight_ on the other hand was _always serious_ as one side placed everything they were and are against the other side that would either do the same or die. Or be defeated, but swords didn't allow the same leeway that using fists did, so he guessed that death would be the likely outcome. That and his big sis _sucked_ at moderation. She wasn't one for holding back, but she would limit herself which amounted to the same thing in theory but was a _big_ difference in thought and that showed in how she fought. Even now, she was unbalancing everyone and he _knew_ it was intentional.

"Nundu, can I get the good steel? This sword is pathetic. See?" His big sis used a finger nail and scratched a line down the blade. The sound was horrible, but it stopped his crew from going funny with curiosity, although they were complaining about the noise now. Her marking metal with her nails was nothing new to the rubber man.

"Meow." The cat said. The swords sunk back into him, and more moved fluidly from under the fur.

"Thanks. Some of these are actually decent looking."

His big sis went back to browsing, with nails tapping on steel swords this time. Click, click, click, _click_ –oh that one sounded different.

"So why aren't you using your own blade against this shitty marimo?" Sanji asked.

"She's whimsical, and all of those whims usually end in the maiming, crippling or death of something. Gentleness with her is not easy. She's also incapable of restraint once fully awakened, which makes the chains doubly ironic. I guess that I could use a smaller blade. I have a few throwing knives on me but those aren't able to stand up to swords. The dagger I have on me is also unable to be used in a spar. It's cursed and that curse is not only genius in how it works, but utterly brilliant in its cruelty. So it's ineligible for sparring with."

Luffy _heard_ the admiration and pride in her voice as she praised the dagger. His big sister's sense of pride was really odd to him, but she was proud of others for doing a good job which is why she always paid for food and good weapons unless it was someone else's but would occasionally steal clothing from a store. So the dagger had to be _really nasty_.

"What's the curse?" Usopp asked.

"I don't think anyone here has enough medical background besides the little doctor here to understand the actual mechanics behind the curse so I won't bother with that. In short, a small nick is enough to give the injured party the mystical equivalent of a degenerative, wasting disease. It's not pretty, nor is it fast. Never mind that cursed wounds don't heal well, if at all in the first place." She grumbled.

"For-forget that I asked!" Usopp shouted from behind Zoro.

"You're not worried about giving that to yourself?" Robin asked in morbid curiosity.

"Not at all. It's cursed. Therefore it's magic. Magic has loopholes." She explained, all serene again. "That's the nature of magic. Nothing's impossible. It's just a matter of finding or making those loopholes." An easy shrug followed as she examined a blade closer. "This dagger just has most of the common ones closed as the set up took something that was otherwise flawed and turned it into the center of a masterpiece. So breaking the dagger won't break curse. It would break the enchantment that delivers the curse though."

"What would have to be done to break the curse?" Chopper asked.

"Oh, you're worried about having to break such a thing or encountering it?"

"Y-y-yes. As a Doctor, I need to know."

"I'd have to say to you don't worry. Enkiri (7) is only leaving my person if I'm dead." His big sis replied.

"But what if it was stolen?" Robin asked, doing what Sabo always said was playing devil's advocate.

"Hmm… First I'd have to congratulate them. Then I'd _hunt them down_ and _destroy_ them."

"And if you were wounded by it during the retrieval?"

"I did say that this curse was brilliant, but it's not unbreakable. Just pretty difficult."

Luffy cocked his head as he heard her say that. His sister's scale of difficultly was 'out of tune with the rest of the world' as Sabo had put it. Ace agreed and his sister acknowledged that as true. So pretty difficult was _how_ hard?

"As a Doctor, it's not something you could cure or treat beyond the symptoms. It's up to the patient or victim of that blade to break it their selves. And unless you're a member of a particular religion that follows a specific belief, the belief of 'hold nothing' then it gets really hard. I don't subscribe to the entire belief myself, but they'd have an easier time than the rest of humanity if they're anything like that irreverent priest. I truly doubt that happens that often. It's a hard ideology."

"H-how would they break that curse?"

"Each curse is different to break or defeat, like each disease is different. This particular one is worthy of praise for how it is set up, or curses if you're trying to fix it." She explained as she examined a blade closer and tested its balance.

"You have to accept that a person _cannot defeat time_. You have to accept that one day, _everything that lives will die_. You have to accept that one day, _you'll_ _die_. You'll have to accept that _everything you've done_ _can be undone_. You'll have to accept the possibility that even if the entire world knows your name that one day, the accomplishments and achievements attached to it will be regulated to history and be lost to the sands of time or even be forgotten. To accept that _you can be forgotten_. You have to accept that _a weapon's purpose is to cause harm._ You have to accept the _suffering this dagger has given you_. Lastly, you have to _welcome the damage_ this curse has wrought for only then shall it be unwrought. (8)"

"That's all?" Luffy asked.

It didn't _seem_ too hard. Which was the point, wasn't it? And then there were the things that his sis didn't say. Like the difference between _accepting_ and _understanding_. He understood that he wasn't the brightest fellow around and he had long come to terms with it. It wasn't too hard to accept that one day that he'd die; he never had a problem with that when it came to following his dream. But being forgotten, and everything he had done like helping Vivi stopping the rebellion or him stopping Kuro from killing Kaya or beating Arlong made irrelevant? That someone else could restart the rebellion or sneak into Kaya's mansion or subjugate Cocoyashi and _make what he had done worth nothing_? And _accept_ that!?

"That's a crazy piece of work." Luffy said as he breathed deeply.

"I know. People are crazy." His big sis repeated as serene as ever. "It's a hard curse to break, not that it can't be broken. I wouldn't be here otherwise. The curse feeds on very human fears, such as age, death and being forgotten. Animals aren't really affected by it. They also don't have pesky things like pride to get in the way either. Lucky dogs. "

"Mreow."

"Where did you ever happen upon such a dark and fearsome dagger?" Robin asked.

"Me-ow. Nyaa?"

"Shush. This sword will work, Nundu." His big sis said as she changed her grip on the hilt. "Can I get the sheath for it?" The sheath melted out of the cat's body, and the sheath was placed on her left hip and held there thanks to the sash she was wearing. The sword went smoothly into the sheath. She placed the sword adorned with chains and its elaborate wooden sheath to the other hip. Sis then leaned against the railing and started to scratch her cat's ears. Purring sounds started.

"Now, I believe that we have a spar on my ship to conduct, Zoro-kun. As it is a spar, there are rules that there wouldn't be for a fight. The first rule is, _don't die_. If you can't follow that, at least have the decency to toss yourself overboard so that you don't bleed out all over my deck. The second is excessive damage to my ship, like cutting one of my masts in half, means I get to do the same to you. No offense Luffy, but Merry doesn't seem to be in the best of shape."

"Hey! Unfair!" Usopp protested. "That's Merry you're talking about!"

"How Zoro walks and breathes shows that he knows zantetsu, so cutting a ship up is child's play." His big sis said in a tone of voice the made Luffy think of the crackle of ice and the bite of cold. Luffy recognized this tactic. Usopp's appeal was _doomed_. She was being _reasonable_ and making Usopp look seven kinds of fool. Because _Usopp hadn't even noticed_ that _she meant Zoro_ and _not Merry_.

"I don't mind a little damage," she continued speaking. "But it's damn difficult to replace a mast and make it work without a professional shipwright's oversight, especially when they're not familiar with my sails and rigging. That type of sails and rigging I use on 'Lance means I can sail 'Lance all by myself and that all depends on the masts. I have many talents but _major_ ship repairs are not within the scope of my abilities. Your appeal has been heard and noted, but you're giving it to the wrong person. Beseech him, not me. Third rule, anything not otherwise prohibited is allowed. Forth rule, this is a spar. As such I can stop it at any time in the event of an emergency, serious injury or if someone goes overboard."

She grinned. Usopp quivered.

"Take it or leave it."

"Deal." Zoro confirmed.

"How he walks?" Sanji questioned.

"Observation skills are such handy things, Sanji-kun. They've told me a lot about how Zoro fights already. His personality, stance and even how he speaks has told me more. As such Honryuu would judge him worthy of not holding back on and I'd _have to oblige_, and _I'd kill him_. Enkiri wouldn't care but just do the same, but far more slowly and cruelly. He's mean like that."

"Honryuu? (9)" Zoro asked.

"I'm not sure what grade Honryuu would be. Never had her judged. She's such a contrary blade. Very theatrical and very much a diva. A sword that's beauty and pride comes with crushing force and a single-minded drive that doesn't quite match how _dreadful _the undertow is."

"Mrreown?"

"Fine cat." His big sis told her cat. She took two steps away from the rail, and back flipped into a handstand and pushed into another back flip to her ship that was a good but short stretch away.

Luffy while not a student of physics knew that what goes up must come down and ships if they're whole and only go partly down, comes back up. "Yahoo!" Luffy yelled. His crew was cursing as Merry evened out several minutes later.

"Sorry! I forgot how much Honryuu weighs!"

At least his big sis apologized, although Luffy knew that she wasn't sorry in the least. She was just being herself and more than a little mean.

"How am I supposed to get over there?" Zoro asked, eyeing the distance now separating the two ships.

Luffy grinned and wrapped an arm around his swordsman and leaped.

* * *

Zoro and Luffy's landing caused the ship to rock far harder than it should. Huh?

"What's with this rocking?" Zoro asked.

"Jubilance is just showing his excitement off. He often doesn't get all that much."

"Neat!" Luffy said, then frowned. "Does that mean that I need to get off?"

"Just get to the crow's nest and stay there."

"Okay!" His Captain bounced up to the crow's nest.

* * *

Zoro looked at his sparring partner who was as cool and put together as she had when she first showed up on the Merry. He tried to get a reading on how she would move next, and failed.

She blinked and a smile graced her lips. "Oh, you're not making the first move?" She shifted her weight and _disappeared_.

He turned while swinging reflexively in a move that would cut someone in half at the waist. She stayed at his back as he turned and he could feel that it was her back to his even as the ship rocked far more than the Merry ever had.

"So that's the speed of your draw? Zoro-kun, let me give you a bit of advice. I suck at holding back; it's why the first rule is _don't die_. Don't hesitate either. You're not fast enough to _afford_ hesitation. Nor are you fast enough to afford anything but to _fight_. Don't think. Just react. Anything less…"

The quiet readying of a sword told Zoro that she was _serious_.

* * *

Luffy watched from above as his sis moved to behind Zoro. He was able to keep track of her, but it was _hard_. Against her, Kuro had been easy to spot. Fast people usually went in a straight line, or maybe a curve, but they were going slower if they were circling. Then they usually had easy attacks to dodge if a guy knew how since their weapons or stance would give away their style. Luffy didn't know swords. He wasn't a sword guy like Zoro. He did know his sister. She was gauging and testing.

* * *

"That's fa-fa-fast!"

"Unreal…"

"…"

* * *

Zoro was off-balance and had no trouble admitting this. You wouldn't expect someone that fast to be that strong. Not to mention, he only had Yubashiri out as that blade was the lightest one he had. Ittoryu was not his strong suit and this damn ship wasn't helping!

She disappeared from her attack and while the ship was swaying, appeared back in her starting position with hardly a hair out of place but the sword was out of its sheath and-

"First blood goes to me, Zoro-kun." She tilted her head. "I do hope you'll get serious soon."

Zoro took this opportunity to draw his other swords and tie on his bandanna. "I'm ready now."

"Good." And she waited.

Zoro charged. The ship rocked.

* * *

Three blades clashed with one as they danced around on the deck, steel clashing with every step. Those on the Going Merry were watching intently as the Jubilance rocked and turned a simple spar into something very different yet much the same as the dynamics of the fight shifted with every step that shifted the balance of the ship. As minutes passed, the comments started.

"Zoro's awesome!"

"Yes, well, it reminds me of the time that I, the great-" Usopp told his story but only Chopper paid attention.

"Something's not right." Sanji cut into Chopper's admiration after Usopp's story had trailed off.

"Huh?" The more naïve members of the crew asked.

"She's playing him."

* * *

Zoro found this 'spar' to be nearly as futile as the one he had against Mihawk. At least she wasn't holding off three swords with just a little knife, but she had far too much ease against him using an unfamiliar blade.

He had noticed that even the style she was using with that blade wasn't a complete match, reducing the power, reach and effect of the blade –and he was still outclassed. Then again, she fought Mihawk and while she hadn't won, she hadn't gone down easy either according to the tales and stories he had heard.

So the obvious solution was to either wear her down, or get a hit in. They weren't working. He was wearing down faster than she was and she practically _danced_ out of range of every strike or stroke. He didn't understand _how_ she was doing it. Just that she was, and that this strategy was a complete and utter failure.

So the next obvious solution was to use two of his blades to trap hers. Easier said than done, but he was going to be the 'Greatest Swordsman in the World.' So he would do it.

* * *

Knowing his sister like he did, once she had finished with testing, her next move depended on her whims and the results of the testing. Luffy had long known that she knew the flaws of her own personal fighting style. It's why she learned several of them and could switch on the fly. Knowing those flaws were why she could predict her enemy's actions. So she would lure Zoro in and change styles –abruptly, quickly and to devastating effect.

As he saw the blades lock and the two below him deadlock, Luffy saw what happened next before it happened. Then the style change occurred and Zoro went flying off the ship and into the ocean.

* * *

Zoro was _happy_ to have finally caught that blade between his. Sure it was more difficult that he would have liked it to have been, but he had done it. So why did it feel like a trap? They were in a deadlock even though the ship was rocking like crazy, but it was settling down now.

"My, aren't you happy?"

"Yes, I am." He gritted out around his sword.

"Sorry to rain on your parade, but I've got all your blades occupied, while you've just got this one of mine. So, I guess you get to learn something about me that rumors won't say –I use _nittoryu_."

_Two-sword_? Zoro had just enough time to process that fact before he felt pain in his ribs and his feet leave the deck. As he fell towards the water, he looked towards his opponent to see what she had hit him with.

It was the sheath of the blade she was using. Then he hit the water.

* * *

Zoro surfaced a few minutes later, and was hauled up on the Jubilance by Luffy stretching his arm out.

"Again." He demanded.

"Attempt one out of ten?" She offered.

He grinned savagely.

His wild grin was met with a bloodthirsty one of her own.

* * *

Seven lost bouts later, Zoro knew that she was enjoying his pain far too much but the pain was _worth it_.

Practically every inch of his ribs had been hit by the sheath or the blunt edge of the sword. Hell, in the last round she had managed a mule kick to his chest. It hurt to breathe. His legs had also been victim to the sheath and blunt edge. As had his arms. Zoro expected those bruises to match his hair soon.

His shirt had been a victim of rounds three and five, exposing the scar that Mihawk had left and he had numerous 'scratches' of the long and short variety all over. She had avoided hitting his joints beyond a surprisingly gentle tap, just to say in a backhanded way that he needed to improve or that would have ended his dream as easily as she could make him a cripple.

He was tired, but exhilarated and learning more than he thought possible just by sparring with her.

Each bout was a different style, a different approach. The differences were anywhere from small to large. Deflection was always a part in all of them but the speed and power varied. How she even dodged varied, along with the fluidity of the strikes, where they were aimed and how. It was like facing different people.

Different people who really had no problem in actually killing him, or so it felt like. After the third bout, he recognized that she was playing head games with him. While he was sure she _wouldn't_ kill him, it didn't mean that she_ couldn't_. She played off of that and induced a similar state as to what he had when he had mastered zantetsu.

He was learning. He was learning so much that he was moving past all the pain and to continue to do so. His dream of being the greatest swordsman in the world had never felt so close and so perplexingly far away as it did now.

He was getting stronger. He knew it. She knew it. He would continue to do so as long as he fought and breathed.

That might be why in their ninth bout he was surprised when she caught his Sandai Kitetsu in a one handed blade grasp, as she signaled for a stop and looked up towards the sky.

"Luffy. Incoming at 10 o' clock. Merry's closer."

As Luffy stretched back to Merry, conveniently dragging Zoro back along, Zoro saw something he didn't think was all that normal even for the Grand Line. A ship was falling out of the sky. And his Captain was dragging him into it. This looked to be fun too.

* * *

Aki looked at the falling ship, Luffy's crew and then the damage she and Zoro had done to her ship. It needed some fixing, but at least most of the damage was cosmetic. Aki scowled at the fact that she would have to do this by hand as she doubted she could convince Nundu to fix the damage for her and she wasn't with people that she trusted implicitly so she couldn't use magic to fix it.

A simple reparo would fix the majority of the nicks, dented deck boards and scratches. It wouldn't fix the bit of railing that she had broken by not reinforcing 'Lance with haki when she had used that rail to jump around a bit on the then heavily rocking Jubilance or the other splintered rails from when she had kicked Zoro through them. She wasn't fond of repairing a ship the manual way. She could do it, but she didn't like to.

While she liked having red hair –living a young witch's fantasy of being more like her mother because magic had a tendency to remove dye quickly by transfiguring the color dye into the shade that it was previously- there were problems about having such a vibrant hair color. The sun was her enemy. Sure, her father had eventually tanned –after two years of nearly constant sunburns when he had first started sailing according to Rayleigh. While she wasn't paper pale, she wasn't tan enough to not get a burn if out for extended periods of time.

Automatically stilling the waves rushing towards her from the falling galleon's impact towards Jubilance, Aki went into her ship's topmost cabin, ditching her jacket as soon as she was inside to get a few supplies to fix Jubilance and Zoro.

While she had no doubt about the little reindeer's competence she had learned more than a few tricks to fixing oneself or another up that it seemed that very few with haki ever thought about. Doc was better about it than she was –she couldn't do more than prevent bleeding out, 'fix' broken bones, heal bruises and scratches. Doc on the other hand could prevent his own death and had done so when she had stabbed him in the heart with a scalpel.

That talent and the research he had been working on with Vegapunk and others might be why he had such a high bounty, although him earning a bounty was a product of academic rivalry along with him becoming a devil fruit user (10). Academic rivalries were _nasty_. The guy normally was mellow enough that she had suspected him to be a complete and utter sociopath. Then she learned that upstairs was just a total _wreck_.

The first time she had met him, he was practically dead in a ditch -and covered in who knows how many people's blood and his guts nearly falling out. She was not a surgeon by any means, but she did know how to sew and trauma first-aid although the latter was more magical in nature. She was beyond tempted to leave him there, but the stupid save-people-thing while much diminished, wasn't gone in this life.

When he woke, he was regretful, but honest about what he had done and did –otherwise she had no trouble killing the man as he recovered. As the tale poured out, she found some admiration for his emotional strength. This also explained why he she thought him to be a remarkably brave man. He was learning to live again.

That was not the only reason. There was incident that happened first time he woke her up before he learned how to wake her properly some weeks later. Because people when stabbed in the heart don't go and tell you that you should have aimed this many millimeters over and that would have ruptured the aorta and he would have squirted blood over thirty feet with a smile on their face. She considered it perfectly reasonable to blink a few times, ask if he was going to die, get an affirmation that he wasn't and go back to sleep. She had been paying for that every time she landed in the Syldra's infirmary since that happened. There should be a limit to the amount of time people could hold a grudge for almost killing them.

Upon finding the wood and tools, she set those in the topmost cabin to pick up later. She then went lower into Jubilance to find the specific bottle that had concentrated health goodies like anti-inflammatory and pain numbing properties and a good bottle of sake. She ambled out of the medicine stock and into her kitchen to look for the sake saucers. They had moved from where she had last had them, but Jubilance rocked heavily when she let him. At least they weren't broken, but if they were, then it would have been an easy fix.

Aki then climbed the stairs to the topmost cabin of the ship with her parcels and looked at the walls. Nothing had fallen or shifted –this room had weapons and they were all secured against any potential rocking by having their own 'pockets' in the walls. She placed the sword she had gotten from Nundu into an empty slot of the wall while she browsed for an appropriate shikomizue –in this case an umbrella. The sun was her enemy. Finding a white umbrella with a pretty pattern in reds and purples she left the cool shade of the Jubilance and jumped the distance to Luffy's crew.

* * *

So, there was an island in the sky according to both of the witches on board. How interesting. Would there be any swordsmen up there?

"Sake?" Benihime asked.

"Yes." Zoro confirmed.

She poured him a saucer. Several reactions occurred.

Luffy was babbling about what just happened in the last few minutes including his find of the map of this Skypeia place, and the rest of the crew were surprised at her sudden appearance –even the newest witch and former assassin on ship. While the ship was identified and the map was interesting he was more concerned with his body screaming at him.

The sake tasted sweet. That was much better.

"Medicine too." She intoned boredly as she held a smaller bottle up. "It's practically a herbal tea with fruit juice, Chopper. It'll help with the inflammation, reduce bruising and numb the worst of it."

It took Sanji spouting off some ero-shit to make both swordsmen realize that Benihime had lost her jacket and that most of the commotion he had been ignoring was because of that.

"Nice." Zoro complimented on the assortment of scars along her arms. "Who or what got the best of you?"

"Sea king." She replied, as he poured her saucer of sake. "It ate my first bounty and then I killed it. I consider getting them worth it. All twenty-eight of them."

Zoro quickly counted those visible. The bare arms showed off several scars of all sorts of sizes and shapes. "I don't see twenty-eight."

"Shouldn't you save comments like that to Kuina-chan? I would be very much annoyed that my affianced is asking another woman to show off her body."

Zoro chocked on his sake.

"Ah, Ryoko-chan, your influence is astounding. I used to be so much more polite. I can't believe I've put this off for so long. I'm known to the world as Benihime, as a bounty hunter, but as I'm on vacation from such a vocation, you can call me Aki-nee-san. Please take care of me."

* * *

A/N; So many re-writes of this chapter… *cries*

This is where I get to introduce my own little invention that I dub the swordsman's sword skill scale. It's logarithmic, so it only gets harder to climb up the better you get and experience counts for _a lot._

Mihawk tops out at 100. Rayleigh gets a 98. Shanks gets a 97. Vista gets a 92. Aki gets an 87. Nox is 80. Kuina's at 74.

Anyone capable of zantetsu/cutting steel gets an automatic 50. So Zoro is around 54 on the skill scale at the moment.

This is where I then get to point out that this scale deals is in _sword skills only_, and if all other stats were even except sword skill would tell you who would win. Problems begin to occur when you factor in matters of speed, strength, stamina, sword quality and can't forget haki either. So Zoro at the moment –he's so totally outclassed and outgunned that it isn't funny in the least.

1. Aki is _rich_. _Ridiculously rich_. You didn't think that she spent all the earned on food, weapons and wine did you? She's been a politician before. She _knows_ _money talks_ and_ how to use it_. She's 21 now. The last time we had her viewpoint at this age was Chapter 14 and that was personal musing. Before then was when she was in South Blue. That's a number of _years_ _left blank_. Years spent bounty hunting, reverse pirating, selling back whatever she had captured, investing and creating.

2. Business expenses add up and eat profit. Pay, supplies, utilities, rainy day fund, expansion savings, funds for renovation or updating equipment. Then there are taxes. I have no idea what the WG/various unaffiliated governments in OP charge, but there are many small businesses and even brands for larger companies around so it probably varies depending on region, income and type of business.

3. This is where the difference between owning and running a business is made apparent, particularly if you have a good relationship between who owns the business and who runs it. This is how people can focus on doing other things –they have the money to be able to. Don't believe something like this can happen? Look at Mitt Romney. He earns about $57,000 USD _a day_ without a 'job.' Aki earns 200,000,000 beri in four months. All that money that Nami spent eight years stealing and risking her life for was earned legally in two months. Ouch. So doing the math, Aki makes 1,666,666 beri a day doing nothing. To translate that over to USD we need a comparative price. So I went with bread. Bread in OP is 50 beri. Bread in USD for this example is $5. So Aki earns about $166,666 in USD per day doing nothing but breathing. This isn't just limited to politicians and ilk. Michal Jordan's earns an estimated $80 million a year or $219,178 USD a day which is more than Aki. I'm not going to convert that over to other currencies like pounds or galleons.

4. There are 170+ nations that make up the WG. Then there are those that are affiliated like Amazon Lily by treaty. Then there are those that aren't part of the WG or affiliated. As every island has some degree of autonomy, legislation differs from island to island. This includes tax legislation, docking payment at busy harbors and the like. So having certain taxes that benefit or harm depending on where one is from most likely happens. That's just business and politics.

5._ Illegal businesses are illegal_ unless you can wrangle endorsement from the Tenryubito. Therefore they take a higher risk for higher gains –otherwise no one would ever do something like smuggling or the flesh-trade or military weapons because it wouldn't make sense to run a business of that sort. There's high risk and then there's stupid risk.

6. Making a point about marketing and brand names. Get a niche; get a name, get famous, get a loyal customer fanbase and you're good to go. Prices can become outrageous but that just mean that the brand has higher 'status' and a higher profit.

7. Enkiri is a dagger that you don't want touching you. Enkiri means separation, divorce, severing of connections. The name suits considering how you have to break the curse.

8. This is a nasty ass clause to the curse. Don't you agree? If not, read Luffy's thoughts about it. This is something much easier to accept if you've died, then moved on, reincarnated and have had everything you worked for your entire life become worth nothing. It's not a nice curse, not that there are such things out there. And just because she can accept that it will/can happen doesn't mean she won't fight tooth and nail to prevent it.

9. Honryuu is a katana. It is normal sized but noted by many characters to be extremely heavy. It is whimsical, but due to several factors it has a difficult time holding back and being 'gentle.' The hilt has a length of chain attached to it, and the guard itself has several much finer chains attached to it and threaded through the wrappings on the hilt which serve their own purpose. Honryuu means tumbling water or main current/main current of thought.

10. Doc has been a planned character for ages –practically there since the story was conceived. If the manga explains DF's more thoroughly then I'll adopt Oda's explanation. In the meantime I have my own and since this is a_ crossover_...


	26. Chapter 26

A/N; A slightly less difficult chapter than Chapter 25. Finally, we get to Skypeia proper. Yay Nundu. Of course, we meander around before that.

* * *

Chapter 26: Talking to Turtles

"Nee-san?"

"Hmm? Luffy?"

"Be nice." He told her.

"Fine." She agreed. "Ask away."

"Your scars-?" He questioned.

"I know." She smiled in a way that Luffy _knew_ meant that she knew exactly what he was thinking about –and that she truly didn't mind that sacrifice at all, as she didn't see it as one. They were marks of pride to her. She just disliked people's reactions to them. She also had no trouble informing people who were being stupid about that fact with violence.

Luffy _knew_ that she wasn't ashamed of those scars, but she _did_ wear long sleeves all the time when not in the jungle or at night or under some shade which confused people. Ace told him that part of it was 'cause she would get a sunburn and those sucked and the other part was that people who didn't know her would _pity_ her for those scars. As if she only had value if she were pretty and untouched by life and living it to the fullest. Luffy just _didn't understand_ people like that. 'Cause his sis was more than a pretty face and anyone that thought otherwise would only live to _regret_ it.

"People are crazy. I'm not excluded from that, even though I at least try to temper that with reason." She blushed as she shrugged. "It doesn't always work, as you well know. I've actually gotten worse, but far better at hiding it and all evidence of such activities." She finished with a smile before the blush spread further as she muttered. "For the most part, anyway. That's what blackmail is for."

That was totally reassuring and so _like_ his big sis. Honest but _subtle_. Sabo said that Aki-nee-san was _subtle_ in what she did, but this was one of the first times he had _seen_ it. He sucked at subtle. So maybe she was being subtly obvious? Or was it obviously subtle? Luffy found that too complicated to think about. Luffy didn't hold any illusions that his sis was a saint or perfect. She was awesome but she wasn't perfect. Perfect people didn't exist as everyone had a different idea of what perfect was. And they were flawed because of that making them into a normal person. That and she had probably broken far more laws than he had, but hadn't gotten caught at it. That just meant that she was _sneaky_.

"They look worse." He proclaimed. It had been a few years since he had seen those scars, 'cause she really didn't have a reason to change into something else less covering the last few times she had visited, but he remembered them being a lot more faded and smoother than they were now.

"Product of using a double-edged technique." She shrugged before she tilted back the saucer of sake. "Scars aren't as stretchy as normal skin, so they tore. I'm still in the process of blunting that edge, but it isn't something that can be quickly done. Doc is a bit over-protective, not that I blame him for that."

"Why?"

"That first time… it was more than a little ill-advised considering the injuries I already had… let's just leave that it was a mess." She scowled. "A highly improvised and dangerous one."

"Ah." Luffy accepted the meandering explanation and judging by the expression, she was not thinking happy thoughts like how to use such techniques without killing yourself. Double-edged techniques just meant that you had to figure out how to not hurt yourself using them, which required pain and injuries and using them in the first place. Sis preferred speed and precision techniques over power, although he knew she wasn't weak so he guessed that to tear scars open meant that it was a speed skill and that stopping was _painful_.

"Do you know how to get up to Skypeia?" The young pirate captain asked. His sis might know but she wouldn't ruin the adventure. She left out too many details usually.

"Not specifically. If I go to one of the sky islands, I usually go by roc-hawk, or have Fuu-chan take me. I know that there are ways that a person can get a ship up there, but again, roc-hawk. Haven't investigated the other methods all that much. Haven't seen the point to use other methods to get up to sky islands since I was able to safely enough."

"So the log-pose isn't broken?" Nami asked.

"Having been to a few islands in the sky, one of which I and several others are banned from, I'll say it isn't."

"So what's a roc-hawk?" Chopper asked.

"Massive hawk-like predatory birds." His sis explained. "They can grow large enough that they can carry a galleon in their talons, easy."

"That's a big bird." Sanji commented.

"They are. They're not picky about what they eat either, so people are actually fair game, along with a number of beasts and smaller sea kings. There are a couple of nesting isles of them along the Grand Line, but a smaller sub-species lives in South Blue. Actually a lot of large birds live in South Blue now that I think about it. Deplorable lack of owls though. Most of those birds make better personal transport but they can get held up by storms considering the Grand Line's weather. Sailing in a hurricane is hard; flying in one almost certain death. Depending on the storm it can be flown over or you can get a slingshot effect if you crop the edge of the gales and headwinds are super annoying… I'm rambling. Sorry, Luffy."

"So you don't know how?" Luffy asked.

"Nope." His sis said with a grin that implied that he was the captain; this was his problem, so he had to deal with it.

"So back to salvaging then." Luffy stated. He had was going to do it anyway, 'cause awesome old ship that went to Skypeia? It should have treasure on it!

"Looks like." She agreed.

"You're being not very helpful." The young pirate replied. If his sis gave challenges, she at least said that she was. Usually. At least implied it. Damn. She was being confusing again.

"I'm on vacation. I'm not doing anything that I don't want to. Diving down after a ship isn't something I want to do."

"So what do you want to do?" Luffy asked since his sis didn't want to go swimming –that was sort of unusual, but he wasn't going to try to figure out why. She was being confusing on purpose.

"I'm on vacation. I'm going to sit back, relax and do nothing." Aki-nee-san replied with a bold-faced lie that was also true. Sis was always up to something, but the 'how' was always the hardest thing to figure out since she was being confusing again.

"Sounds like a plan I can get behind." Zoro replied.

"But your Captain wants to salvage, so a-salvaging you'll go." She told Zoro. Salvage. That's what he was going to do. Salvage. How to salvage?

"Salvage. Now. Usopp!" Luffy called. "Make it happen!"

Usopp quickly began building suits that would allow the 'monster' trio to salvage the wreck of the St. Briss.

* * *

"So was it worth it?" Zoro asked, as the rest of the crew scrambled to obey the latest of Luffy's whims.

"The first time I used that technique?" Aki asked. "That's a rather philosophical question, you know?" She emptied the sake saucer, in a slow savoring manner. "Is vengeance ever worth it?"

Zoro paused, and thought and reflected for a moment. "I suppose it could be, but I don't want to find out." Zoro promised himself that he _would not ever have to_.

"Hmm." The older and more experienced bounty hunter thought with a humming noise that made Zoro think that she was seeing far more than he ever could. "I suppose you pass."

"Pass what?" He asked.

"The judgment of, if you're good enough for whoever's name you wish to attach to it. It means I now don't have to worry much. Your loyalty is commendable, although…"

"Wait? What?"

"Now I'm going to have to amend what I'm going to tease Kuina about." The infamous bounty hunter _pouted_. "You're really not the 'strong, silent' type anymore. More of the 'strong and grumpy' type. By the by, it wasn't for vengeance. At least not entirely. A mad dog threatens everyone with its madness, and I wasn't about to let it or anything else threaten my nakama."

Zoro felt the sudden urge to drink and did so even if he didn't quite know why. He did discover that the medicine was practically juice –just rather thick, tart with zinging aftertaste that demanded sake afterwards as that zing soured.

"I totally feel like I missed half of that conversation." Usopp complained from where he was making some suit like things that Zoro supposed they were going salvaging in. He supposed that they should work, but it was a matter of trust to actually use those things.

"Good! You weren't meant to be able to follow." She said with an amount of cheer that Zoro decided was just plain _wrong_ considering how somber she was not even a minute ago. She pouted again soo after, "It is something of a shame that Zoro-kun and I weren't able to finish our bout though."

"Then let's go-" He started to suggest, but was cut off.

"Not in the mood! Beyond that, Zoro-kun, do you not remember the rules? I never considered that you were a masochist. More teasing material, I suppose. Third rule."

Zoro recalled the rules. They were simple. The first was don't die. The second was don't damage my ship or I'll hurt you. That rule had caused a number of the thin scratches decorating him all over as she retaliated. The third was anything else goes and the last was that she could stop it at any time for any reason.

Zoro's blood turned cold. Anything else goes –and she never specified who that applied to.

* * *

"So," Zoro began conversationally, "what would you have done in the last three rounds if we hadn't stopped?"

"For the round we stopped on?" Aki asked, as she mused over the rough plans she had laid out. Actually, she had long since gotten to the point she didn't have to_ think_ about her reactions in a fight, but she didn't want to kill Zoro so she had to in order to control how strong she wanted her blows considering everything else. Honryuu affected things even while in her sheath.

Jubilance provided treacherous footing, Zoro had his injuries and fatigue and the fact that he wasn't quite pushing her hard enough to make her reach serious which led to her being mock-serious and playful. Playful was bad as she had been told that her sense of humor was traumatic –she couldn't even argue the point as she did agree with the statement.

"I would have introduced some of my more than slightly dirty tricks. Tricks to mess up your footwork, to further destroy your balance on Jubilance and introduce you to why no one sane ever wants to corner someone that has a good manicure, a brain and access to poison."

The younger swordsman made a chocked sound.

"A nice clear coat of nail polish covers the nail; in a nice even lacquer coat or three. Another layer for color and then the next layer is a poison of choice. Mine is a mild paralytic to begin with and it's in a low concentration. It's really not that noticeable on skin contact, but if it hits blood… you get the idea right?" She asked with a cheerful wink.

Oh, yes, he got the idea. It wouldn't have killed him and he wouldn't have noticed the effects at all until was too late given how long they had been at it. It wouldn't be a disaster, but it would have been a far more doomed attempt on his part when it came to winning even a short spar.

"So the next round?" He asked. Aki mentally awarded him points for asking.

"I was planning on losing the sheath in the first three minutes. More disorientation and tactics meant to further cloud judgment. More claw work and a far more wild and undisciplined sword style. Then a nice solid hit or kick to the throat, or jaw. Maybe the chest. I wasn't going to be picky. Enough power and leverage behind it to make it hurt and color magnificently, but not enough to snap your neck or break bones. Shame that I don't have geta that the style really needs, but kimono confuse me." The reincarnated witch stated with a bored drawl.

She sort of even liked geta –better than those wooden clogs that she had to wear a few times at international diplomatic events when she was part of the MoM. Britain's weather didn't lend itself to sandals either. Even with a past life who had worn kimono before, and the few times she had worn them in this life she still didn't get them. Someone had to help dress her or she'd end up with too few under layers to be proper, or not get the proper knot or wind up proclaiming that she was dead. She knew all the protocol, what the various ornamentation and decorations meant and even how to make the most complicated knots and hair styles allowed for any occasion –yet she couldn't dress herself in a kimono without a mistake. Her female friends despaired at that and several of her other quirks concerning her appearance.

"And the last round?"

"If you were still able to have a good round after that, I would have brought out my gun."

"The one strapped on your leg?" He asked.

"Naw. Not the PM-09 (1). That's not something for a spar either. I would have brought out my old snub-nosed revolver. That one is concealed. It's a Heat special make but the ammo is too expensive for use in a spar (2). Pistol-whip."

The younger swordsman scowled at her assesment.

"To be honest, you did better than I expected. You've only recently learned that skill after all." She continued in the same catty drawl she had long perfected. She also remembered her experience as a teacher. True most of it was magically based, but same principals applied. Praise students for doing a good job, but make sure they don't kill their self or others with stupidity. "I suppose sometime in the last week, so in Albasta then, as you're the type to work obsessively on skills and it is still a little rough."

Zoro grimaced, but nodded at her assessment of his skills and when he had learned them.

"Anything you want to ask?" She asked. She would answer, but as long as she stayed in the mood to do so. She was actually getting sleepy.

"How are move you so fast? And how do you know when and how I learned zantetsu?"

Aki sighed. "You ask for those things first. Figures. Speed is easy. I don't think. Just react. Thoughts have weight. They are an unnecessary burden while fighting. A fighter should be focused on as a fight is a clash of intents, and if necessary, then it should be fought. If all fighting required thinking then every incidence of violence would be resolved over chess. A fight should be fought with intent and resolve, not thoughts. Thoughts resolve problems for people with clashing intents but only when they are willing to compromise. If the intents and people are resolved otherwise and unwilling to let go of the issue, then the fight should be fought. That's not to say that one can't fight smart, and use the terrain, surroundings or whatever to your advantage, but as that intent to fight, to do harm, to win is heavier with thoughts, an unnecessary burden and it is easier to predict because it is slower (3)."

"And the zantetsu?"

"Experience and observation. It is not so much as large of a change that you're wearing a sign that spells it out, but more a culmination of little things and intuited observations. Everything from the cut and condition of hair, to the pattern, color and style of what you're wearing says something about you. Sometimes it is as simple as 'I don't care what I'm wearing,' to writing out your past for everyone should they actually care to read it (4)."

"Is that possible?" Zoro asked.

"Takes a lot of people watching and experience, but it is. It's gotten to the point that it is all sub-conscious for me. My first impressions are not only disturbingly accurate, but furthered observation often gives me too much information. Like when was the last time Zoro-kun bathed. It was at least four days ago, if not five (5). The spar and teaching were just a bonus to cleaning the stink off. It was offending my cat."

"Meerw."

"That's accurate." The sniper commented as his body language showed that he counted the days before shuddering and getting back to work. "And scary."

"Well, it's not meant to be comforting." Aki replied. "As a bounty hunter, observation skills are a must. Even more so when politics get involved and huge sums of money, as not everyone that I've gone after were pirates." She stretched out on the stairs of Merry that led to the rear deck. Not the most comfy place, but better than one would think.

The infamous bounty hunter continued her lecture. "Money and power does funny things to people's heads. It can bring out the worst or the best of them. Hence my vacation and why I'm actually considering retirement. I love my work, but the majority of people I end up meeting I end up not liking." She left out all the scumbags that she avoided on principle and those that she did kill. Meeting someone means you exchanged names and acknowledged that the other person was there. Tossing someone through a building because they grabbed her ass was not meeting some either. Nor was being flashed and propositioned. Was it any wonder that she was known as 'Sword Maiden' Benihime? Honestly, she got tired of it at times.

Well, maybe she'd 'retire' once she got done with the current favor list she was doing. Ace had asked her to track down the place where Crocodile had gotten his dance powder from. It being a possible threat to his Pop's territory was a joke of an excuse but one she'd accept because it was Ace. Since she was going towards that direction in the first place, several of her contacts had taken advantage of it since a few other ports at the start of Paradise would want a few supplies that were more valuable and illegal being out of season. Smuggling things was surprisingly easy and profitable in many ways if you knew what you were doing, but more importantly _when_.

"You'd be dying of boredom within a week." Luffy deadpanned.

"I can do other things with my time. Work on my businesses, visit, learn, explore…" Aki argued.

Plot various dooms of people who had earned more than their fair share of her ire, move without further notice in a number of areas, a few pro-bono assassinations that were by natural causes caused unnaturally, maybe stop another war, find treasure, gamble with Rayleigh and con him out of his wallet or maybe with Alice although they wouldn't have to put as short of a limit to how long they'd play card games… there was a lot that she could do if she had more free time made available. Make and perfect another technique, visit Rouge and tell her what her son was up to now, see Ace and make sure he wasn't burning himself out on his hunt for the traitor and spend some time with him, stop in and check on other people like her little sis and mom and the bar, drive Sabo's crew bonkers while embarrassing him, bug Dragon into remembering he was human like she used to have to for Hermione on a study spree… She could do a lot of things.

She'd still have to keep up Valentine for various reason –but she'd have far more time if she didn't have to fool the world into thinking that Benihime and Valentine weren't the same person. Travel times became simply murderous which wasn't fun or pleasant. There were other reasons for keeping Valentine 'alive' such as the contacts that weren't available to Benihime but the main reasons went back to biology and magic. She had so totally screwed herself over. It wasn't like sanity and ethics had ever been her strong suit anyway, but she would like to keep what she had.

Really she'd only be bored if she had to stay on a particular island, unless it was the surface of Ryoko's home island. There was no way she'd ever 'retire' to that island though. She preferred Labyrinthos to that and several other small islands that weren't officially claimed as hers over the world such as Aviary Tower in South Blue. That wasn't including the various properties that she owned, or in one case –been given. The Queen of Elicoor was one that she liked –all demure and proper and soft on the surface with a vicious steel trap underneath. It almost made up for the weeks of being a bodyguard and the espionage she had to conduct. At least she wasn't stupid. Retirement to there was actually something to consider… but she would maybe be-

* * *

"Be bored." Luffy replied. "You do all that stuff anyway."

His sis would be bored stiff, and wouldn't stay 'retired' more than a month. She loved the career she had chosen. It was as dangerous if not more so than being a pirate, but had less freedom. She didn't mind the constraints –she considered them a challenge and actually placed more on herself. Sis could be scary like that.

"Stop disturbing my daydream with logic. It's rude." She chuckled, the sound low and throaty. The smirk was like the one she often gave a few years ago. Things clicked in Luffy's mind. Oh. OH. Now things made sense.

Luffy reached the epiphany that his sis was planning something that was decidedly not her retirement or at least not yet –and it wouldn't be a nice surprise either. Or at least something pretty big before having 'Benihime' disappear from the world. At least if things went to plan anyways. If not there was always the next plan, contingency and the next and maybe just going with what seemed right even if they had gone past the worst case scenario. He never tried to mess with his sister's plans or get involved –there was no way to win unless something upset the board completely or she allowed it. Since she wasn't asking for permission to involve his nakama, she wasn't including them, so he was fine with that. Nor was she asking him to go along with an idea of hers either, which was also nice.

"Are you sure you want to nap there?" Luffy asked.

"I'm surprisingly comfy as is. I suppose I could go back to 'Lance…" She replied as she weighed the comfort of the stairs compared to the effort of getting up, over on the Jubilance and sleeping there. A shift of weight put his sis on her feet as she stood up. "My ship is more comfy and better stocked… if you need me, I'll be asleep –over there. Even if you yell, I'll still probably be asleep." Then his sis jumped the distance -a jump that only barely rocked Merry saw her over to her ship where her landing didn't even cause a ripple in the water.

* * *

Nundu the cat stayed on the railing of the Going Merry as his favorite person's "little brother" and his nakama dived down in those contraptions to salvage the wrecked ship. It wasn't his problem.

Nor was it his problem when a monkey like man decided to salvage the ship as well. It was an interesting technique to witness, but he didn't care. The man was what his favorite person classified as 'mostly harmless.' It was annoying that the monkey man's crew and ship cut off his line of sight to his person's resting place. The other two-legs had obviously failed in keeping her in check and watching over his person since they were busy doing two-legger things.

It did become his problem when the giant turtle appeared under the Jubilance. His favorite person was in that ship! Or was, Nundu admitted as he saw her move to the turtles head and with his cat ears he heard her ask, 'if turtles lost their shells, would they be naked or homeless?' Typical of her. The humans around this ship were panicking over other things he didn't care about. The humans jumping back on the caravel ship barely registered. The reactions of two-leggers he didn't care about to the turtle didn't concern him.

Just as soon as he was ready to jump the distance to the vessel that his human was using the sky turned dark and giant figures played out. This didn't bother Nundu at all –his night vision was exceptional even for a cat- but it scared the turtle. Land turtles would be slow, but sea turtles could swim fast. Pounce-chase fast. This was problematic. He would actually have to depend on these other humans for a few things…

Nundu actually decided to pay attention to the humans around him.

"Today has been a really weird day." The male who smoked began.

"A galleon fell from the sky…" The male with swords continued.

"The log-post keeps pointing up…" The female who smelled of the fruit trees complained.

"The strange monkey appeared to recover the sunken ship…" The male who smelled of gunpowder said.

"A giant sea turtle at the ship…" The animal with horns and hooves put in.

"The sky went black…" The female who smelled flowery reminded them.

"Finally, giant monsters a hundred times bigger than regular giants show up!" The stretchy male who smelled of meat exclaimed as he ended the summary.

"Yup! That really scared me." The intruder and monkey like man said. He was promptly kicked off ship.

This was nothing that needed a feline's touch yet. His favorite person wasn't without resources or cunning. Knowing the destination or at least someone that was there, was all his person needed to find someone. She wasn't done here yet. After all, she had told him as she had waited this morning that she had sensed an old acquaintance of hers.

The change of her aura told him that she was on the hunt. A slow, slow prowl. The hunting stalk of the top predator. However the inclusion of the meat-loving man wanting to reach this sky island where the prey was complicated and destroyed the leisurely pace of the hunt. His human knew other ways to reach the various sky islands, but she hadn't had to ever use them much less seek out further knowledge of them so she hadn't 'investigated' them. While the inclusion of this set of humans could ruin the hunt, they first had to get to the sky island to ruin the hunt in actuality.

He might not care for humanity in the least –they made no sense- he was and knew he was smarter than the average human. So all he had to do was watch and wait. He was a cat. He had no problems with this.

* * *

Watching the humans dither over what to do wasn't amusing to the cat. Nor was the discussion about his person. The stretchy meat-smelling man was right in saying that his person would show up again, if only for her cat.

"Verily, this is true." Nundu agreed.

"Luffy? Did that cat just talk?" One of the humans asked.

"I have been able to the entire time. I however, have kept a civil tongue. Make sure that everyone else does the same or I might have to get it and everything else while I'm at it."Nundu informed the newbie pirates. "For your own safety, don't make any mention of my favorite person either in any capacity. Now, if that is all, I shall be returning to my nap."

"It spoke human." Another human said.

"I have long since been able to. I just prefer to not to around idiots."

"Why that shitty cat!" The smoking man yelled at and attacked the cat –only to find his foot going through the cat. His shoe had disappeared within the cat's body, leaving the chef's foot covered in just a sock.

"None of you are capable of hurting me unless I allow it. Be glad I didn't take your foot as well as your shoe. Now if you don't mind," the cat licked a paw and the shoe slowly emerged from the paw to drop down onto the ship's deck. "I shall return to my nap."

"Evil cat." He heard muttered.

The cat smiled in a fashion that only his devil fruit ability allowed -the result was just plain disturbing. And the cat continued smiling that smile while napping and did so, until they reached port.

* * *

Once they did, Nundu being a small and adorable cat jumped onto the most sensible and cat-like of the lot and followed her while she shopped. If he left while she was trying on a few things and ate the shop manager –it was a people problem. He showed back up and followed the flowery female around. He approved of her manner in dealing with people. Very cat-like.

They returned to the ship where the two strongest on ship were receiving first-aid from the furry doctor. Any injuries given to the swordsman from his person had long since become non-issue due the first aid and his favorite person's medicine.

Due to the flowery woman's leads, they went around Jaya to another human's place. The met another irritating monkey man who was far too arrogant, but also too loud one the way. That human was actually worrisome as the ship he was on received quite a bit of damage. That could be bad. He could get wet.

Eventually they met the boss of the salvage and sonic monkey duo, who he didn't care about either. The cat slept as the pirates got along and partied. People's problems didn't concern him. He woke up the next time the monkey human howled and noticed that there was a fight going on. As the aggressors were clearly winning and he didn't care for the losers he hopped onto the aggressor's ship. He knew the type of person that his favorite person's little brother was as his favorite person was the same, but more lethal. Some things were forgivable. Others are unforgivable, no matter the reason. Stealing prey just wasn't done, but watching it for someone else was just doing them a favor.

* * *

Eventually the meat loving human caught up to the one he had been tailing and proved the difference in the strength between his prey and himself, by knocking the other out in one hit. He didn't see why people just didn't eat their prey, but he had long since given up on trying to understand humans.

"Meow." He called.

"Oh, cat. Have you been keeping an eye on where they have Mister Chestnut's gold?" Luffy asked.

"Mreow." Nundu repeated, while he led him to the gold. The gold obtained, they raced back to the ship. Along the way, this human just proved how much like his favorite person he was, by befriending a large insect –specifically a beetle which made them far later than they should. Yeah, he was going to just find a place on the ship and sleep again.

This proved to be a mistake as a few hours later the modified ship was sailing into a whirlpool and then up the knock-up steam. This was after running into the target of his favorite person's favorite person's hunt.

The cat mentally told himself that he really needed to learn people's names. Before that, he had to get dry. Clouds were wet no matter what they were made of.

* * *

Yesterday

"Ah, Mister Turtle, you can stop swimming away now. The giant shadows are long gone." The bounty hunter told the giant sea turtle to no avail for the sixth time this hour. The turtle was still swimming –and on the surface too. How odd, but that was just Honryuu acting up. It was also _still _panicked. It was also _not listening_.

"Sea kings, sea serpents and various other predatory species I can speak to with ease." Aki complained out loud to the turtle who wasn't listening. "Turtles I can't. Figures." She pouted.

"My problem is that I'm getting further away from my target and my cat." She could sense that and it wasn't just from her pacing on the turtle's huge head. "So solutions to my problem are limited by the fact that I need to get up to that Sky Island. There's no way that Luffy won't reach it if he tries. He is a lucky bastard like that." A lucky bastard who benefited from having a few overprotective siblings –her among them. The Dadan bandit family wasn't the only gang of bandits in the mountains of Dawn Island, but the only one aside from Higuma's bunch Luffy had ever interacted with. Even so, he had only interacted with Higuma's gang the one time –they all had suffered a nasty case of death by the time she was thirteen. Other bandit gangs succumbed to the natural hazards of the mountains and jungles.

"Nundu is likely to tag along with Luffy, for entertainment if nothing else. However he's not going to do much unless he sees a direct benefit from it. Shame, I could have convinced him to… nah, he wouldn't have agreed in the first place. My nearest aviary is a week and a half away if I'm guessing the speed and heading of this turtle correctly should it dive now and I have to sail. That's only because I'll be fighting headwinds so I could otherwise cheat with Jubilance and use the engine. It's not like the ship doesn't have the power from the generator cutting the travel time down to two days. Speaking of power… Luffy would be fine against Enel's lightning, but only that. He wasn't Birkia's strongest warrior for nothing… even without the damn fruit."

She sighed and turned in a twirl to pace the line she had been walking for the past two hours again. "At Birkia we ended up leaving with a ton of refugees that otherwise wouldn't have survived before the island fell apart and before I was able to recover consciousness–that's what I get for nearly dying- so we weren't able to get an accurate reading of who was left and who still followed Enel or if that bastard was still alive –which he proved to be. Damn my luck." She felt the need to use a large amount of profanity but ignored it.

She continued speaking her thoughts aloud. "Luffy's not the brightest, so there's a good chance that some of them could match him or the others. Zoro not getting zapped isn't likely to happen. That damn logia could have even gotten new minions. Merlin knows that he doesn't care for them. So that means… damn."

The red head stopped pacing back and forth on the turtle's head. It was large and steady enough perch –Jubilance was barely rocking on it. "I'm actually going to have to call for help."

She went inside of Jubilance to grab the den den mushi and a stick that reacted well enough with her magic to be useful for the various basics of magic that were handy and subtle such as the point me and those that even a non-magical person could do –like divine where fresh water was.

The den den mushi glared at her as she picked the snail up. Wanting to not be in the same room she kept it in on the Jubilance, she went back to the turtle's head. She did a rough estimate of what time it was at Sabaody and judged that her minion was likely up if not Fuu-chan. Tempus wasn't a spell that she could recreate in a runic form without ungodly amounts of effort involved and a high chance of killing herself. She had never studied beyond the basics of temporal magic beyond how to use it.

An unexpected benefit to keeping her aura at a frequency to mess with den den mushi is that she also knew how to use her aura to boost the connection range and scramble the signal. While it was commonly said that adult den den mushi could send and receive signals from the other side of the world that was a false statement. As her minion had explained it to her, the den den mushi sent all of these signals to each other and boosted the signals of the call to each other –like the muggle game of telephone but far less prone to misunderstandings. That was how the 'black' den den mushi intercepted calls. The equipment on den den mushi in general just allowed people to take advantage of that ability to communicate over long distances with. Knowing how to boost the signal allowed her to be more selective about which den den mushi passed the messages along lowering the risk of being overheard as there were less 'chances' for it be over heard from. It also had the benefit of allowing her to force a call through to someone even if she didn't know the number.

The problem of keeping her aura and feel at that particular frequency was how once she stopped her aura would surge. She could at least control how it would surge so that she didn't knock out the turtle and the den den mushi. The good thing about being on a giant sea turtle with no one around for miles? There was no one around for miles.

Power was always one of the most alluring things in the world.

She slowly released the constraints on her aura and breathed. It was nice to truly relax. Even the air smelled different. The turtle slowed down considerably, before stopping and breaking out in a turtle-style cold sweat as it was now aware of her existence.

Consequently keeping such a firm control over her aura all the time prevented her from using the 'rarest' type of haki. That was why she hadn't used it earlier to make the turtle bend to her whims.

"Ne, Mister Turtle, you don't mind if I call you Snapper?" She asked.

The turtle slowly shook his head 'no.' Ooooh, she had a smart turtle!

"Good, now can you head to the left? You've gotten me far away from where I wanted to be." She explained. The turtle slowly turned. It was a wide turn, but it wasn't directly back towards where she had been separated from Luffy. "A little further to the left." She told the turtle newly dubbed Snapper. Snapper complied.

She was pretty sure that she was turned towards Jaya, but the time of day didn't allow for the handy find my direction tricks any survivalist was bound to pick up. Not that she was handicapped by it. The point me spell always pointed north –even in the Grand Line. A quick check allowed her to check that she was pretty accurate –day time navigation was never her thing. She was good enough to get by, but she knew better navigators than her existed. While she might not always be the most accurate she knew how to eke out every little speed advantage the winds and waves would allow her.

The turtle was moving towards Jaya –at a much slower pace than it had left, but it had been a fast turtle for a while. She estimated that she would get there sometime tomorrow morning if the turtle kept up this slow pace.

Unable to put off the call any longer she called the particular frequency she wanted –boosting the signal to make it reach while scrambling any others that could pick up on it.

"Hello, you've reached-" A young male voice began.

"Ah, Jim. Is Fuu-chan available?" She cut in.

"Boss?" He asked.

"Yup! Is it so surprising that I'd call?"

"No, and yes in that order. Whatever happened to P. C.? Wasn't he with you?"

"We cut through Sanq in North Blue. His sister abducted him. You haven't heard?"

"No, he hasn't bothered to informed us, or we missed the call. Bastard."

"It happens. There was far too much pink to be vanquished."

"Pink? Ah, never mind. I understand." Jim replied soothingly. Not that it was needed.

"Anyway, I knew to borrow some of Fuu-chan's skills. There's a place that I'd like to get to and I believe that I'll miss the fun way and my normal methods would take too long to get there. I have a small time issue."

"Ah, that could be a problem, but we're not all that busy at the shop. Where are you at?"

"A half day and some hours away from Jaya, on a giant sea turtle named Snapper. Do you think that Fuu-chan can reach there by about this time tomorrow at the latest?"

"Jaya? Man boss." Jim complained. "That's like a fourth of the line in less than a day! A little more actually, considering the distances (6). Fuu-chan is fast, but not that fast and then there's the chance that she might be too tired to get you to a place you'd need her abilities for. Even taking the birds would have a similar situation considering the air currents in those areas."

"Take the train then." She replied with ease. "I've always liked them."

"Even if we did take the train, the sea train stops at various islands. It's not like it is a straight shot from Enies Lobby to Water 7. It has stations, and it picks up supplies and passengers (7)!"

"Actually there is a track for that does go straight from the Lobby to Water 7. It is just that commercially, the train usually follows the other tracks. A large number of marines patronize Water 7 just to ship off their criminals using that track. As for your other concerns…that's what hijacking is for (8). Shame that I'll miss the opportunity. I've wanted to do that ever since I saw it, but didn't. That would be just troublesome to explain and I'd get a bounty that I wouldn't want." Aki explained.

"Hijacking the sea train. A train of all things. The train! I don't even want to talk to you. You want a guy who hasn't even turned fourteen yet and a coffee deprived rain-hawk harpy lady to go hijack a train so that we can be ready to fly off to Jaya –a place that I'm not sure we even have the eternal pose to- so that you can get to a damn island. Why?"

"The eternal pose should be in the cabinet with the rest of them Fuu has collected and made. I believe that it is the third shelf, about the sixth one over. As for why, I found proof that I missed someone on something I did a few years back. He nearly kills me and mine; I nearly kill him and did kill some of his. I do believe that he won the war so to speak as the island isn't the same anymore…"

"Wait, the logia guy that nearly killed you? He's still alive?" Jim asked.

"Got proof of it. Admittedly, we didn't look too hard, but still the Grand Line is a large place and we could have missed each other. Anything he has done since that point in time is my responsibility, if not also my fault too."

"Shouldn't you wait? Gather up a few of us that can actually fight at that level and then go?"

"Ah, but Duckling's long lost partner is in the area, along with some others that I care about. They're the type to end up in the middle of it. I just ended up away from them and Nundu."

"Nundu's with them. That's not much better. So, no choice then?" He asked.

"None." Aki replied.

"Do I really have to?" The thirteen year old male whined.

"Yes. Unless, you want me to inform certain people about who did what a few years ago -as a prank. After all, even with everything you've done for me –you still owe me."

"That's dirty! And I was eleven! That shouldn't even count! No one does anything smart when they're eleven!"

"It still doesn't quite top killing a sea king at ten." She informed him. Objection overruled. His argument became invalid.

"But I haven't even had breakfast yet." Jim whined. He knew he was overruled too.

"Eat it on the train." Aki told him before she hung up.

* * *

"Goddamnit." James 'Jim' Hawking complained as the connection cut out. He knew from previous tries that calling back just wasn't an option.

"I thought I heard Shishio on the den den mushi. Was it actually her?" The blond bombshell wearing nothing but a dress shift which did absolutely nothing but emphasize the size of her breasts asked.

"Yes." Jim growled as he tried to focus his attention elsewhere other than his companion's boobs. As a teenager in puberty –this was a lost cause. Not only was it a lost cause because 'Fuu-chan' was hot, but she was fresh from the shower and all she was wearing were those panties that covered less than a bikini bathing suit bottom and the sheer dress shift. The wings with everything else just made the 'naughty angel' look turn pornographic. She'd dress more formally later, but before coffee expecting Fuu-chan to act like she should considering her status was a lost cause.

"So what did she want?" Fuu-chan asked as she took the coffee he had brewed and drank straight from the pot. He would be more worried about her getting burned if she didn't do this every day after she woke up and showered. No sugar. No cream. No milk. Just straight black coffee that was strong enough to be illegal. He never saw any benefit to her drinking it, but the detrimental effects of her not having it were a miniature natural disaster in the making.

"For us to meet her at Jaya, by this time tomorrow."

"No mention of the exact time considering time zones (9)?" She asked.

"I believe that she meant by her time." Jim replied. The time zones could mean the difference of seven hours and some odd minutes. So they had even less time that a day.

"That's even less time." Fuu-chan replied. "I can't make that time flying if we run into any storms. A straight shot also puts me through the Florian Triangle, or almost there. The winds there are so calm that there are practically no thermals to take advantage of. The headwinds are also immense on several other routes from here to there at this time of the year…"

"We're supposed to go to the Lobby and hijack a train."

"A train?" The blond replied as she worked it over in her mind. "I can see how that'll work. Water 7 to Jaya and beyond is far more manageable and less tiring. "

"Glad you can. Feel like explaining to me how we're not going to become wanted criminals while doing so?" The teenager asked.

"Lying my pretty little wings off. The controls malfunctioned. The train isn't stopping. Something. Between the two of us, no marvel of technology or feat of engineering is beyond our ability to dominate." Fuu-chan reminded the teenager. "I suppose it will be easy enough to figure out once we get there."

"Whatever happened to sanity." Jim complained.

"I gave away my right to it when I asked Kurenai-sama to train me."

"Wonderful. This leaves me as the sane guy all over again."

"She say anything about breakfast?"

"Yeah. Eat it on the train. Get dressed already." Jim replied. The things and lengths that he and the rest of the fools he called his nakama would do for her. Captain, boss, master, favorite person or whatever. After all, what better way to repay the fact that she'd do anything for them other than to return it in kind?

He picked up his personal den den mushi, ammo, his twin pistols, a knife, some small change for anyone on the 'crew,' put on his goggles, a heavy jacket and the rest of his tools. There was a train to hijack and some disaster to engineer –having Nundu would have been helpful for that but he could make do- or find someone to frame up for the 'disaster.' Or they could cut power to the cars and wreck the den den mushi signals from any of the cameras entirely after having Fuu-chan work her magic on the door… after all there were only two orders superior to the one he had just been given. One was don't die. Two was don't get caught.

Jim wasn't planning on failing his boss in anyway. After all, this sort of thing looked to be fun no matter that his sanity was protesting the decision.

* * *

A/N; Meet some of Aki's nakama. Nundu the apathetic and genius cat who eats everything. Fuu-chan the angel who calls Aki her master. Then there's Jim a.k.a. the minion who is not only the youngest person on the crew but also the sanest one. Jim's specialty lies in logistics, tactics, mechanical and technological knacks. Not as back-up or as a fighter for all that he has some talent as a sniper. He also can cook.

1. Oh, dear, this isn't the same one mentioned in Chapter 22. Sorry to say, but that one broke some time ago. This one isn't 'Silent Chaos.' The PM-09 isn't a Castor-Gun Model which has the ability to fire 'magic-shots' and will be designated as a CGM. The gun in Chapter 22/'Silent Chaos' is properly named CGM-SC-01. Type of gun, specific name/model, the make number (as it is the first one made, it gets 01). The PM-09 is Piercing Massacre –ninth edition. Lots of piercing power, some armor piercing and explosive rounds and OP ridiculous capability –that means lots of ammo, shot really fast. The bullets fired can pierce through a number of things with ease, but specifics can be iffy with haki reinforcement. Normally, those of the PM series have the equivalent piercing power of a modern-day M16 in your hand, with burst-shot capabilities. Major drawbacks are the kick, lack of precision in burst rounds and the speed at which it eats ammo –ammo that is not the mass produced lead balls common in OP.

2. She might have only spent a short amount of time under Heat's tutelage, but that doesn't mean that Aki can't take care of her own guns nor make her own. She had an excellent foundation for understanding of the mechanisms of everything involved in gun-smithing and just lacked practical experience when making or shaping the parts. This means she knows how to replace parts and upgrade her weapons as needed given access to materials and a workshop. This is just her giving credit to Heat as he created the original that she has modified. She even visits him semi-regularly. So her little snub nosed revolver has been modified to allow for more modern ammo. The ammo that Aki has to make by hand as she jealously guards her weapon's secrets. It is why she is sparse in using it. Please note that this is just regular ammo –the spelled shells are only for the CGMs and those are expensive glass cannons and not just in energy and time put into each shot. The CGMs have a habit of cracking after x number of shots depending on the type of spelled shells it has been shooting and how close each shot was after another.

3. This is actual sound advice for fighting in general and fighting against one with kenboshuku haki. According to OP wiki, it is easier to pick up murderous intent and read it with kenboshuku. You mentally tell yourself that 'I'm going to kill this guy,' and your brain will work to picture that and then you coordinate yourself to attack. Easy to predict. Remove the mental statement and just focus the brain doesn't get distracted imagining it happening and you move faster and become harder to predict. Rely on impulse/reflex and the only warning 'time' your opponent is gets is very small. Beyond that, if you back it up with enough ego and strength against a kenboshuku user, their confidence could/would be eroded away unless they have similar or greater resolve.

4. Aki is scarily observant. Most women are, in a number of ways, but Aki is far more practiced at it. True most of what modern women focus on is appearance and what that says about you, but a number of other things can be inferred about you based on appearance alone. It's not always accurate, but it can be done. This can be based off of hair style, color, length, the type of shirt, the color of shirt, the type of material or anything else like skirts, accessories, pants, gloves, make-up, hats, coats, scarves and even shoes! Converse shoes imply a flightiness and impulsiveness of youth, while strappy sandals imply feminine easy-going woman, but strappy sandals with heels imply feminine elegance and power while boots say that you're aggressive, self-reliant and tough. All these inferences usually happen at a sub-conscious level and your brain wants them to 'match' to a degree. It is why people would never consider wearing hiking boots with a cocktail dress or strappy sandals with heels and a heavy camouflaged coat. The brain mentally calling for the fashion police aside, acknowledging and being aware of all these tiny judgments makes for being really observant. It is actually tougher and easier on men. Easier as they have less variety, but tougher as women and men _don't think the same way_. So a guy could look like a lay about that failed out of college, move like an athlete and actually be a doctor.

5. Oda says in SBS that Zoro bathes once a week. Given how much he exercises and trains, the body odor must get rather potent before he bathes. Aki's estimate is slightly off, but still disturbingly accurate for the timeline in BV. Strawhats beat Baroque Works, rest and recover. Clean up, have feast, leave Vivi and Alabasta. Robin shows up on ship, Aki arrives three days later.

6. Yeah, I'm saying that Jaya and Water 7 are about mid-way point on Paradise. Also I get to point out the superiority of air travel verses sea travel and land travel. Speed. Distances that take 10 hours in a car at 60 mph are less than an hour in a plane. The main problem with air travel –unless you have a flying ship is that the comfort of travel is less than ideal and reliant on muscle power unless again you have a flying ship. Birds fly slower than planes, but they are still faster than a ship. Aki's complaint about travel times is bullshit to the rest of the world but in comparison to portkeys, floo and apparition? It becomes a legitimate complaint. More so because air travel is often wrecked/delayed by storms and this is the Grand Line.

7. The sea train rails connects to several islands. Enies Lobby, San Faldo, St. Popular, Pucci and Water 7. Trade goes on between these islands thanks to the sea trains and takes far less time and energy than shipping the materials by ship.

8. I find it hard to believe that there is only ONE Puffing Tom in existence. Considering the scope and length of the tracks it is possible to have multiple conveys running the same track. They'd have to have multiple trains in order to keep up with demand and all the tourism. The main difference is that the Puffing Tom doesn't go as fast as the Rocket Man and also unlike the Rocket Man –the Puffing Tom has breaks. Even so, at full speed the Puffing Tom is fast enough to equal Fuu-chan's travel speed against headwinds and storms don't slow or stop the train either. Birds fly faster when they're diving, but beyond that most birds have a pretty low cruising speed compared to what is needed for a plane to fly.

9. Going on the similarities between our world and OP, the world has been divided into 'time zones.' Twenty four in total, so twelve on each side of the line. The concept of 'time zones' however is misleading. What happens with most of the world in OP is that one island's noon is forty minutes after another or their day begins twenty minutes earlier on one side of the island compared to the other. Because noon is the highest point in the sky that the sun reaches, so physical distance between two towns means they have two different noons even if they're in the same time zone. The only exceptions to this idea are the islands that are connected to the sea train. It is _because of the trains_ that 'time zones' became firmly established. It was this way in America for years until the train businesses took off and required that the time in certain regions be made standard for that entire region so to fix congestion at the station and ensure that what was being transported was transported in a timely manner. So while the concept of time zones exists, not many pay attention to them beyond figuring out the time difference so to place a call unless you work or depend on the rails.


	27. Chapter 27

A/N; Chapter 27. Sadly, this Chapter was far easier than the previous chapters. No comments about Nundu? Seriously HP fans, siriusly. Ah, well, more of Aki's 'crew' gets introduced. Tell me if what you think of them.

* * *

Chapter 27: Unseemly Sailing With Stupid

**Grand Line -Paradise -Sky Island**

Nundu was not a happy cat for all that he appeared to be a kitten. He was a genius by human standards but that meant nothing to him. He had come to a frightening realization of what his apathy to the humans around him had caused. He had just realized that he was stuck watching over these human rookies. They weren't even people he liked! He was going to demand lots of many things in payment. This was a concept he understood. Lots. Sleep, pampering and all the food he could eat. His favorite person would be sad if they died because humans were silly that way –not that this made his 'job' any easier.

He knew that rookies often made stupid mistakes but to swim in a cloud that they had gone through with the knock-up stream? Stupidity of the highest caliber. If he was human, Nundu supposed that he would be engaging in the time-wasting panic that two-leggers went through when worried. However he was a cat. So after the long nosed human was retrieved he set about correcting the stupid.

"Do you suppose you could have done anything less ill-thought out?" Nundu asked the long-nosed human as another human plucked the sky-fish away from him. "Cloud seas obviously don't have a solid floor –unless you count the ocean's bed far below us. Otherwise the ship and all of us would have been crushed against it before falling some several thousand meters to the open ocean." He informed the humans and the one two-legger on ship. They all grimaced. Good. "Try to remember that even if Skypeia and that place are here –this cloud is still on the Grand Line. Anything is possible." He even refrained from adding 'you twits.' Humans were weird and his lack of human civility would cause the humans to act against him and be more stupid.

"Are you going to give us advice Mr. Cat?" The rubber human asked with a frown on his face.

"No. You're free to make your own mistakes. As a cat, I really don't care what happens. My human would be sad for a while and then she'd get over it."

"You're a silly kitty aren't you?" He asked. "So why are you staying with us then?"

"No. I'm a barely civil cat and I don't feel like leaving." Nundu informed the rubber human coolly.

"Nah. You're a silly kitty." The rubber human replied as he poked the small cat. Nundu looked at the finger as it was coming close. It poked him again. "See, you don't mind at all do you cat?"

Nundu smiled widely, showing off all his teeth.

"Luffy! You-"

Nundu bit down, expanding his head enough through his logia nature to engulf most of the human's hand in his jaws. The small cat absently noted that atmosphere being less dense could be a problem for his abilities as he hadn't wanted to engulf that much.

"Ah! You stupid evil cat!" The silly two-leg yelled as he tried to shake the kitten-sized black cat with the now much larger head off his hand.

"… I can't place why, but this seems familiar for some reason (1)." The swordsman commented.

Nundu overheard this and timed a flail just right so that he landed –feet first- on the male's shoulders. "I can't place where though." The swordsman continued.

"Ah, déjà vu. Here I thought it might have been something interesting." Nundu commented as he was returning to his normal feline form. He leaped from the swordsman's shoulders and down to deck.

The swordsman just stared mouth agape. There is nothing quite like being ignored by a cat especially as he quickly ate the sky-fish that had been left on the deck in two bites. Nundu took a few steps towards the mast and looked towards the angry two-leggers. He licked a paw to start a bath for himself as was proper after a meal. "Don't you have an island to find?" The cat asked.

As they scrambled to sail the ship Nundu decided that his favorite person owed him lots. This would not be enjoyable.

Unfortunately as they scrambled the furry two-legger noticed someone coming towards them. A local human. Interesting. However, the intent from this human was hostile. _Wonderful_. As a cat he wasn't easy to find with humans using haki using his abilities for more than minor feats would make him as noticeable beyond his intellect should he choose to employ it (2). If Nundu was a person he would curse his kitten-sized body but as he was a cat, Nundu let the humans deal with human problems. After all, this human could be a cat-person. He had been told by various humans that he was a cute cat if one could discount about nine kinds of creepy especially when he smiled like a person. Nine wasn't a large number since humans often counted far more than that. He understood the purpose of numbers but a cat never really had to count beyond a few things. A normal cat anyway. Since eating that fruit he had had to learn numbers and math.

As he watched the strongest three of the rookies get beaten, Nundu realized that the thinness of the air was getting to the rookies. At least they were smart enough that he didn't have to inform them of that. Having to watch over dumb rookies would make him drop them all overboard –or eat them, but they'd die after a while. At least this 'Knight of the Sky' proved interesting, if unhelpful beyond dropping off a whistle and scaring off the hostile native.

"So how do we get up to this White-white sea that Knight of the Sky guy mentioned?" The navigator asked.

"Are you asking me? I'm unaware of exact method. All islands are different, but I'm sure you can figure it out."

"You're useless cat!" The less sensible human female yelled.

"No, I'm just being a cat and you're being a silly human. The armored fellow was actually being cheap for mercenary work."

"Is there a conversion rate Mr. Cat?" The more sensible human female asked.

"As money is a human invention, there's no need for a cat to pay attention that much attention to it. I just remember hearing complaints about it. They interrupted my nap." The cat told her.

"Interesting…" The sensible female replied. Any further conversation was killed by his favorite person's 'little brother' being an idiot.

"Hey! These clouds are soft!" The rubber man yelled as he bounced on the few that seemed to be far denser than the ones they're sailing on.

Nundu just wanted his favorite person to show up so he wouldn't have to watch over these two-leggers. He would much rather be with his favorite person no matter that she was being foolishly human and weak. He had a feeling that staying with these two-leggers that his day was only going to get worse.

As a genius by human standards, being right was a predictable outcome to most things. As a cat, he just wanted to take a nap. Nundu was sure that if he was a person that he would be dismayed to have to watch over such rookies. That was the normal human reaction to difficult tasks.

He went over to the trees to take a nap in them while the two-leggers he was around tried to get to Skypeia.

* * *

There were times Nundu was a very unhappy kitty or as unhappy as a genius cat could be. Being on a ship that was captured by a giant shrimp and taken up to this white-white sea was one thing. The shrimp thing getting away and him not being able to eat it made him very sad or as sad as a genius cat could be. There would be another giant shrimp to eat elsewhere. Where there was one there was bound to be more. Once the shrimp had swum away they had sailed to the beach. As a cat, he was one of the last off board and he approved of the caution of the swordsman and the more sensible female. Attaching himself to the sensible female he kept his silent companionship with the crew.

The crew met with nicer natives, and honestly Nundu thought about revealing himself as more than a cat to the natives but every island was different for all the similarities that sky islands maintained. He had never been to one as the usually method of having a roc-hawk carry them didn't work as he had tried to eat roc-hawks and had eaten one before, but several of the people that his favorite person considered hers had been and his curiosity had been peaked since he found out that these two-leggers were using a different route. Needless to say, as soon as the native mentioned Upper Yard the curiosity inside every cat had been hooked. Pirates weren't immune to this either. Enel the lightening logia would be there… he couldn't use his ability without killing himself against Enel. It was a bad match-up. His logia element conducted electricity better than his normal form if he kept himself in a liquid state. He supposed that he could take advantage of the atmosphere and expand further if he went gaseous but he didn't know if and how well he would still conduct electricity when his density was less. However his element was pretty useless when completely condensed into a solid form… it needed a hot humid environment to be at its best when gaseous.

He'd stay with the crew for his favorite person was sure to home in on them soon. This proved to be a good decision as they went back to the ship and have the native male fix the human-contraption, no, it was a waver retrieved from yesterday's salvaging. Nundu as a cat had never quite gotten the concept of money. Authority by the government was something that was also something he had never gotten the hang of since cats didn't have that either.

That said, he had no problems stealing the equipment of the officials that the rubber man had knocked out before he joined the sensible female on the ship again. He really should try to remember their names but it was hard for the feline to really see the need. He knew the difference between the two-leggers around him; they could infer who he was talking about so that was that. Names just made it easier for two-leggers to know the two-leggers he was speaking of. Enel was an exception as he was promised dinner even if the cat didn't know what he looked like.

As the ship started to rock in a way that he was familiar with from Jubilance's exuberance and he saw another shrimp capture the ship before it started speeding away. As it was moving at such a fast speed he doubted that he'd be able to catch and eat it, even if he was able to dive in and swim after the shrimp. How annoying. He wasn't able to eat his fill of people food earlier either…

* * *

He joined the pirates going off of the altar of sacrifice by clinging to the male swordsman. He was a cat –they weren't sacrifices. The sensible female often stopped to investigate human ruins, but he saw no point in making observations aloud. He was more interested in finding something to eat and ate a number of frogs and rats while the humans did human things. So when the less sensible female lead them to the coast and showed off half of the house just confirmed that this 'Upper Yard' was really part of Jaya. If she had asked, he could have told her this as the sounds and smells were exceedingly similar to Jaya and despite the size so were all the flora and fauna. Jungle rot was a unique smell to each jungle. The kitten-sized cat's reaction to this declaration was an urge to find some place to nap as he had eaten his fill of critters although shrimp would be nice...

It was decided that they would go back to the ship, and regroup. This was easier said than done as the swordsman had to be dragged back to the correct path a few times. The silly swordswoman that his favorite person called Birdbrain was similarly impaired but not to this extent, hence why she was now Duckling. Once they had regrouped they had a camping trip as they reviewed what they knew and learned.

Nundu slept through the meeting and party afterwards. He woke up when he felt something wasn't quite right at the ship. A quick jump over there saw the kitten sized cat at the ship and something else. He was sure that most humans wouldn't be able to see it –which was one of the reasons his favorite person was his favorite person. She was foolish to hold onto such foolish human sentiments but she knew how to see past them. Not every human had forgotten how to see beyond the material.

"Hello, Klabautermann. Do you wish for assistance?" The cat asked. The Klabautermann answered in a way that no human or those deeply touched by humanity would ever understand. Nundu wasn't human and he didn't have a human's disconnect from the spiritual world and affection for the material world. He was a cat and he could see and communicate on both. It seemed that he would 'earn his keep,' to use a human phrase but only because of how hard it was to use his ability to create and 'build' things. It was better used to 'eat' things. The Klabautermann materializing would shield his activities from the false-God person after all. The false-god person was only human after all and Klabautermann only showed themselves to those who loved them.

After the work was complete, the cat went to sleep. While the ship wasn't truly fixed, it was in far better shape. It at least looked like it hadn't been mauled and repaired with whatever was at hand. Some of the 'wounds' the ship had made him wonder exactly how had the ship gained them? The question was then put off as something he wasn't that interested in pondering while there was sleep to be had and so the cat slept.

It was a very good sleep until the humans and the two-legger started making too much noise. Oh, that's right. They'd be happy about the ship looking better wouldn't they? Nundu went back to sleep. Two-leggers didn't make all that much sense. Even the sensible ones.

* * *

**Grand Line -Paradise -Enies Lobby**

_Two Days Previous_

"Did you have to do that?" Jim asked his older companion referring to what she did earlier to get their accommodations on the sea train. That hadn't been mentioned in the rough idea of a plan they had barely hashed out before they had left Sabaody. After all, how do you hijack a train and not get caught by any officials? It was feasible, but it required some supplies that they picked up before closing the shop and way before they ever reached the Lobby.

"… No." She eventually replied.

"Figures."

"Hai, Chibi-sama."

"Gah!" Jim complained –it was out of character but they had this part of the train to just them. It was practically right next to the engine room. If they could get there, they could easily sabotage the controls. If not, then Fuu could do something from here although they ran the risk of messing up the wrong part…

This would be bad as Fuu's special personal ability with technology was wrecking it. She had gotten better at not doing so to the point of being able to create finicky log-poses and eternal poses and other things exceedingly quickly due to her devil fruit but that didn't explain her natural ability to destroy tech that was purely _mechanical_ in nature. It was what his boss had dubbed a natural destructive talent. It was at least useful at times –unlike Celia's natural negative cooking talent with any dish that didn't have some seafood in it. Celia's negative cooking talent made him glad that plenty of people on board the 'crew' knew how to cook things other than seafood even if Celia was the only one that claimed to be a chef only. Sharing that food was a different matter entirely which made breakfast hectic as fish wasn't breakfast food. The arguments were fun to watch.

The next few minutes were spent in silence as the train was loading passengers heading towards Water 7 from the Lobby.

"James…" she said so low that he had to strain his ears, "I will scoping the controls soon. While I'm doing that, can you cripple the Den Den Mushi systems?"

Jim raised an eyebrow at the easy task. He was thirteen –that was young- not stupid. He had been able to pull off what she was asking for since he was _seven_. The only reason they were crippling possible interference was to keep any official presence to a minimum and to prevent interference from slowing them down. Being early was preferable to being on time or _late_. Fuu was a striking individual and her devil fruit ability made her an unparalleled sniper now that she knew how to use it –not that she was no slouch with more conventional means in conjunction with her abilities either, but it wasn't her strong suit but still damn effective. His boss wouldn't allow that kind of oversight.

"Good. Depending on the types of controls we might have to stay there for a while. Prepare to ask many questions and to be intelligent about them."

"You say that like I'm an idiot." He complained to his frankly very pretty and very exotic companion to most people. In comparison to the 'crew' Fuu wasn't the most exotic or even most eccentric looking.

Being from Windia she had wings like all peoples native to sky islands did. Those from Windia had larger and sometimes even functional wings than the vestigial wings that most sky island natives did –although Fuu's wings were far darker than the usual white wings being different shades of purple that ranged into black which he was pretty sure was her natural wing color and not just because of her devil fruit. Fuu's wings were pretty large to begin with allowing her to glide short distances even with a passenger but the size of them beyond that depended on her devil fruit though.

Fuu's skin was pale, her eyes a striking green and her hair was blond with bangs to frame an angular face and long enough to reach slightly past mid-back. She wore an elegant sleeveless dark blue dress that had a high collar like neck but had what was called a keyhole neckline. It was pretty dress that was oriental in design if plain which explained the decorative belt she wrap around her waist twice which was where she kept a lot of her ammo. The dress had a wide slit for her left leg to show all the way through and possible flashing was kept down to a minimum thanks to two thin black belts that held the dress partially closed. It also showed off her well-made soft leather boots with open toes and heels. She had more expensive and ornate clothing, but those weren't available to them at the moment (3).

He knew her figure was one that attracted a lot of attention, especially since he knew for a fact that out of all the women on his boss' 'crew' she was the most endowed –and the most shy provided she had had her morning coffee. He knew that fact from sharing ship space with several women for parts of the past two years and _Ryoko_ who deserved her own special category complete with horror, shock and awe. Ryoko had no issue complaining about the fact that 'Fuu-chan didn't flaunt and show off her blessings to the world.' Too bad that Fuu was a complete bookwyrm –and that was an intentional misspelling of the word as wyrm meant dragon and Fuu was protective of them.

He had actually cleaned up a bit from his average, daily wear –but it was still unusual to wear a heavy coat in the warm weather of summer weather in most of the Grand Line for this time of year. The idiots just didn't know how cold flying got when a guy didn't have feathers even though the Grand Line itself was nice and warm. He had less than legally obtained a new and nicer coat –his old one was placed into his new bag that he had his 'tutor' carry along with all of his other functional but not appropriate for this con-job like clothing, shoes and a number of other tools and weapons that couldn't be hidden in his new clothing.

There was no way they could get away with this con-job if he looked like he usually did. Messy dark blond hair, shaggy eyebrows, wearing mechanist coveralls with an oversized and well-aged brown jacket and work boots would not work here. Now he looked like a young lording –and those guys were a force of nature onto their selves. He had quite a bit of experience seeing some tantrums first hand on Sabaody of the most spoiled nobles around so preforming as a minor noble was easy and produced similar results –especially given Fuu's overall appearance, countenance and manners. It lent a hell of a lot of credence to his claims that were nothing but fiction. Thanks to his boss, he could claim to be a number of 'heirs' to various business and the family would be counted among the 'new rich' because really, having to resort to claiming bloodlines would have been a disaster –so he was grateful that no one thought to ask.

"It's something I've been doing since I was a kid." He replied back in the same almost inaudible tone. "It's not that hard."

"Then we shall head to Cloudview Island and pick up a bird once we arrive at Water 7." Fuu intoned. This made sense to Jim as he knew that his boss was currently ship-bound and not keeping up with the ship was a good way to loose profit and comfort and everything on board. This was why planning was important before ever leaving. Grabbing the relevant poses was a must, and so was hashing out a plan to hijack a sea train and not get caught while doing so. This actually wasn't going to be as bad as he thought so long as they didn't end up causing a huge crash at the end. That was totally possible.

"Then off to Jaya." He replied. "What's at Jaya aside from Mock Town?"

"That, only Kurenai-sama would know." Fuu reminded him before she told him in a more normal voice to 'study his books' and stay in the cabin in a manner that could be overheard –but the true directions were in ship-speak.

Ship-speak _was_ confusing enough to most people, but the fictional twist was a nice touch. She had basically told him to knock out communications at his leisure but before she returned. Even so, ship-speak wasn't something that wasn't easily learned –and also showed who really were the rookies on 'crew' for all that they hadn't raised their own colors. Ship-speak made things _fun_.

* * *

Ten minutes later he had wrecked communications although it truly didn't take him that long as he was keeping character, and then another ten after he had crippled communications, the compartment door was opening. Fuu and one of the workers on the train was also there –presumably to either deny him or let him into the engine room to learn first-hand how the trains worked since he was going to be heir to one of the businesses that shipped a lot of their products through the trains and wanted to know more about them. At least that was his story. He wasn't the heir. He managed them and managed them well enough that the people who ran them thought he _owned _them. Idiots. Boss had her fingerprints well-hidden to everyone that wasn't made aware of how she marked what was hers and those were all over certain businesses. To someone close or in on certain networks, the signs might as well have been flashing neon. He knew them all. Confusing at times, especially when it intersected with other businesses and professionals and what they were allowed to know but worth it.

Then as luck would have it, that was when the train accelerated like mad and tossed Fuu into him and caused the engineer person to clunk his head into the compartment door in what sounded like it was going to be a nasty bump. Like hell, that wasn't conveniently timed.

After getting his act together and Fuu's boobs away from possibly smothering him –he hadn't thought that boobs could do that previously and he was obviously going to have to become a leg man which wouldn't be a hardship- he went straight into character.

"What the heck is going on!?"

"I believe that we're experiencing some technical problems." Fuu spoke while keeping a poker face that would make 'Poker Queen' Alice envious as she regained her composure and helped the engineer to his feet –or she was until he had a nose bleed from the view down her shirt. The engineer had just found out that the dress was a Ryoko-special dress as it tailored to show off and support _everything_. Jim then thought that he had obviously spent far too much time with women if he knew about womanly concerns like _support_. Hell, he even knew Ryoko's various tailors.

"I do hope that they're able to be resolved." Fuu commented blandly but her eyes were full of mischief and her smile coy. Translated from ship speak meant that her primary objective was secured and that it shouldn't do any permanent damage and would be able to be fixed shortly before the train ride ended but not any time sooner. Fuu had gotten _good_ at things like that. There was still a damn good chance that this ride would end in a fiery crash –for everyone else, but that would be drawing attention. The most annoying part of this job was the fact that they were seen boarding the train and were remarkable. They also had to be seen leaving.

"That was obvious!"

* * *

Two hours and some odd minutes later the 'fault' was finally fixed –twenty three and a half minutes before they plowed into the Water 7 station at almost top speed. Fuu had gotten good at timing things like that. Most people didn't even know that anything had gone wrong on the train unless they had ridden it before. It gave the train conductor enough time to slow the train down to prevent crashing. They still came into the station a little faster than they should have. Hmm… the Galley-La people would show up soon if they hadn't already, since as soon as the 'fault' was fixed he had restored communications. Logistics and support was his domain.

As they left the station in an affronted and imperious manner while dissing the competence of the conductors on Fuu's part with him complaining to Fuu that he thought that the ride was fun –and that was actually easy for him to pull off, Jim noted. They then quickly cut through the assembling crowd. They borrowed a nearby bull and took a ride to the top of the city so that Fuu could make use of the thermals in a few minutes, although they made it look like Fuu was herding him. That was the benefit of traveling in this direction at a certain speed. They had made good enough time that it was still lunchtime here despite having left early in the morning even after several hours of traveling.

They were skipping what would be 'lunch' as they had 'brunch' on the train. That didn't mean he didn't pick up something to eat for them both for later as Cloudview Island wasn't inhabited by people until recently and restaurants weren't high up on the list of things to be built. Even if they spent the night on Cloudview –and storms might mean that they had to- they should reach Jaya within the day.

They kept supplies on Cloudview, but any experienced and veteran member of the 'crew' knew where a number of rest-stops were and might not have restocked afterwards. The fact that these rest stops often looked like they came straight from a travel magazine was irrelevant as that fact had more to deal with the trio of kleptomaniacs. They were very interested in making things both pretty and functional even from junk and how they ever got all of the supplies there to carry out the projects that they assigned their selves was beyond him. They were also certified over-achievers of the worst kind –hence why they were kleptomaniacs and not just plain thieves, bandits and acquirers of goods. They were kleptomaniacs –or at least that's how the nocturnal and oldest looking one of the trio explained it. Not that the rest of the 'crew' could claim standard or mediocre achievement so they really didn't have all that much room to talk.

The duo quickly worked their way up the tallest nearby building on onto the roof –churches were such handy and nice looking buildings for all that he was an atheist- and with food on his back and him on hers they set off for Cloudview. He handed the eternal pose Fuu had made for Cloudview before ever leaving Sabaody to her prior to take off –not that Fuu needed it when flying while using her devil fruit to its fullest capabilites but doing so here just would be too eye-catching. Even the half-way was too eye-catching and so she was stuck with a partial that tired her out far faster than a full use of it would –that wouldn't happen until they at least until they got out of sight. Fuu had a most spectacular devil fruit in his opinion.

Cloudview was an island that was hard to get to in the Grand Line on a ship due to all the mist, rocks and whirlpools in its area. In short, it was shipwreck central. There was only one place where getting to shore was feasible, but landing there on even a small ship wasn't possible due to the rocks and shallows that were just deep enough to cover most people's heads unless it was high tide and people wanted to risk being stranded. This left the risk of taking a shore boat or swimming ashore and the rip currents there were just _nasty_. Even after reaching Cloudview's small rocky beach, there was a massive thousand meter cliff to climb before reaching the top of that plateau which had a small amount of livable area on it. The cliff and plateau pattern repeated itself until the plateaus reached the clouds. The terraced nature of the island was pretty unique as the plateaus spiraled creating small overhangs. He had no idea why it was named Cloudview instead of something like Winding Spire or Skyscraper isle or something.

The island had numerous beasts on it and numerous dangers as benefitted any island on the Grand Line, but the most interesting and useful ones would be the flight of birds-creatures kept there. They were native, from what he knew of them. He wasn't that big of a bird person, beyond the usefulness and capabilities of them but they weren't roc-hawks. These were more in line to eagles than the giant fishing birds that fished for and fell on sea kings like a murder of crows.

For now though, he had a long flight to endure.

* * *

Several hours later they had landed at Cloudview and made use of the rest home which either the kleptomaniacs or locals had seen fit to expand recently. It didn't have that addition the last time he was here. They were stopping for a nap at least, because halfway through the flight they found a thunderstorm in this part of the sea. That actually meant that hurricane season this year should be _excellent _when the 'season' finally started, as much as the Grand Line had one. While they weren't hit by thunder thanks to Fuu's abilities, being caught in the storm did mean that they were soaked, only a little air dry and a lot chilly.

Surprisingly he and Fuu weren't the only ones making use of the rest home, judging by the smell from the kitchen. A spicy stew of some kind, his nose told him. After stripping off the wet clothes and changed into drier –and more comfy- clothing while Fuu made use of the shower, he investigated with a mug of hot cider. The Doc had obviously been by and might still be here along with the crew's nurse who also happened to be the ship's arsonist, bookie and several other things. However he had seen some signs that those two weren't the only ones here. Some of the clothing he had found was worn by the Doc and the nurse and some of it was too small for Potemkin as it fit his style somewhat. The big guy was off with Albel.

The answer came through the front door wearing a muscle shirt, trousers that he suspected allowed for a full range of movement; greaves, black boots and round clear glasses over clear aqua eyes. Red-brown hair. The muscles and aura of gentle strength informed Jim that he has no damn chance in a fight against whoever this was. So he was going to take every advantage he had of still being a kid. It was surprising how many people underestimated him. Bah! He had his pistols, a knife and several other smaller tools on him usually. They weren't for show either. Still, this wasn't someone he could take in a fight. Didn't mean he was up for trying if he had to.

"Hi there! I'm James Hawking. Call me Jim."

"Diaz." He replied as closed the door behind him.

"That name… isn't familiar to me in the least." Jim informed him.

"You'd be far more familiar with his epitaph." The Doc informed Jim who had become far too used to such antics to react. When and how the Doc had gotten in the building, much less made had the time to lounge on the back of the couch, Jim didn't know.

The Doc was wearing a dark pink button up shirt, plain grey trousers and his lab coat. Oh, and a pair of sandals that had seen better days. The Doc has also been neglecting his personal hygiene again as his beard looked like five days' worth of whiskers and his dark shoulder length hair that was getting that shine that said it hadn't been washed in a while. With the dark green headband saying 'FREE,' in white, the poison yellow rectangular glasses on his smug face, the jewelry and ornamentation on his ears and the fact that he was munching on a giant lollypop sucker the Doc didn't look anywhere _near _his capabilities in the field. "That'll be Black Wing by the way." He added.

"The former merc? The one boss claims as a friend and has been trying to recruit for _years_?" Jim asked for clarification, because him being the Black Wing would be good or bad. Likely both. "The one who made Honryuu and Enkiri? Wasn't he sick? Like the dying dead kind and being a total bastard about it?" Jim also knew the guy as the one to refuse any health treatment even though his behavior totally put his boss in a terrible mood. Between Doc's genius, skill and innovation and other members learned skills and methods of inducing faster healing and various cures there was very little that they couldn't do unless the disease was viral in nature. A number of crew knew more far more than basic first aid boss included. Boss believed in cross-training.

"He's the genuine article." The research doctor confirmed.

"Sweet!"

"Sour." The Doc cut in. Jim internally winced. Ouch.

"Huh?" Diaz asked.

"You're supposed to say something like savory, Black Wing." Doc informed his unwilling patient. There were a multitude of reasons that learning ship-speak was so damn complicated. Throwing people off track like that was not only allowed, but encouraged. The results of interpreting things wrongly prompted faster learning of the confusing sub language. Ship-speak was all about communicating with each other and testing the other's temperament, character, learning their capabilities and how to work with or around each other without giving what was being 'said' away. At least that was part of the rationale behind it.

Diaz shot doc a vicious glare. "So you work for her too?" The former mercenary asked Jim.

"Yeah. Much better than what I was doing." Jim admitted. A street rat that didn't fit in with the others because he once had it far better than they ever knew about –it had gotten him stabbed and nearly killed a few times while he was still soft and stupid. Then he bit back. Sometimes literally. "You still undecided?"

"Things happen for a reason. I was perfectly happy wi-" Diaz coughed heavily, and collapsed to his knees while the fingers of the hand covering his mouth became red with blood.

"Is he contagious?" Jim asked the Doc.

"Not unless you count stupid." The Doc replied as he cracked the candy between his teeth. "He's the living example of why vaccination is important." So it was viral in nature and they already had immunity.

"Ah. Need anything Diaz?" Jim asked. "Glass of water? Help to bed? Doc's head on a platter?"

"Oi!"

"I died and I'd have liked to stay dead, so that guy's head would suffice for now."

"Yeah, I want it too. Sorry, but I think you'll have to just toss him off the island if you can. Doc is not only hard to kill but rather obsessive with his patients. If you're his patient you're not dying unless he kills you."

"Especially since when I picked him up he was already dead and had torn oodles of muscles. Going to that island to study the regenerative properties of the monsters there was such a good idea."

"Doc." Jim stated flatly as he helped the former mercenary to his feet. "You're not supposed to go around breaking natural laws like that. Did you even ask for permission?"

"Yes. That's bad karma." Fuu chided with her hair wrapped in a towel. "Shower's open, Chibi-sama." Fuu-chan informed Jim. She had already dressed into one of her spare outfits that were kept in the house, or it might have been one of Ryoko's backless shirts that didn't try to break common decency laws. They existed, rare as they were.

"Don't call me that!"

"Well, he had been dead for a while… I honestly hadn't intended to revive him. Beyond that he broke a promise to the boss dying like that for all that it was done for good reasons, so I was still well within my rights to use his corpse as I pleased. Returning him to life was not my intention. I'm excited about the fact that he shows little sign of memory or cognitive loss. Some minor brain damage is likely, but he already had one of the worst cases of terminal stupidity I've seen." The Doc explained.

That did not make Jim feel any better. Their Doc wasn't a 'help at the hospital and do surgeries doc' although he could do that –he was a research doc before whatever happened to cause boss to pick him up. Fixing up a corpse and 'accidently' reviving it was actually _mild_ for him. A research doc having a psychotic break from reality could do some major medical mojo, beyond knowing how best to slice and break people. Hence why he had a massive bounty beyond his combat skills. Skills that were only enhanced when he decided to use his devil fruit. Unless haki or seastone was used, decapitation wouldn't stick. Damn scientist.

"That is hard to believe. Did you use South Blue's necro process?" Jim asked as there were a few ways to revive the dead, but they all had their drawbacks.

"I couldn't have. I don't have the equipment for it and the procedure is only now becoming successful again. After the guy who invented it died, the process had to be reverse engineered and it is finicky and complicated. The success rate is under twenty percent and the results aren't pretty." Doc explained. "Now all that is left is for him to recover from what was killing him in the first place. He's being very stubborn about it. It was easy enough to knock and keep in remission. I really should publish this as the vaccination was important since all those unvaccinated that obtain the disease and have it progress past a certain point all died."

"You might want to leave out the accidental necromancy Doc." Jim told him. Doc was absolutely crazy, but he was often far more sane than this. This was research mode that failed ethics on a scale that was practically incomprehensible. Debts and deals were far more practical.

"I'll consider it. Diaz's own physical condition and will isn't to be underestimated either which could skew things… as could a number of other factors." The doc considered aloud, "That's also bias, so I really need to find a population to test this technique on, allow it to progress to stage three… but I've been banned from infecting people outright and grave robbing is rude… So, exactly why are you two out here?"

"Kurenai-sama requested use of my talents to reach a destination nearby. As she's is on Jubilance, the ship also needs to be picked up or watched over. Nundu is already in the area she wants to go and so is unable to render assistance."

Jim noticed that Fuu made no mention of Kuina's boyfriend that the swordswoman hadn't seen in years.

"Hmm… I'd offer to join but my patient keeps trying to kill us both and so we need Ya-chan to stay too."

"Unimportant. Massage. Now." Fuu demanded of Doc. Between her natural endowment and the strain that a partial use of her devil fruit placed on her back, even before considering she was carrying him, this was beyond expected.

"But I'd be neglecting my other responsibilities." Doc whined with a gesture towards the kitchen and Diaz's direction.

"I'll be fine without you." The former mercenary informed him.

"You'd be dead. Die later, like after you're well again and not my patient. Your stupidity means that at best your full recovery will bring you up to seventy six percent of previous capabilities based on what I calculated your limits to be based on your reputation and current condition, but I'm a pessimist. I also wasn't referring to you. I was referring about my responsibilities to the food."

"I'm cooking the rest, and then I'm hitting the shower." Jim replied, knowing that the Doc had a tendency to over-spice things and also unsaid was that he'd snack on what he was cooking and put some aside later for after his shower that better not get messed with or the next time he might _forget_ to acquire something that someone _needed_. Or he could eat with them… "That means someone else can do dishes if Yaone would wake us up early enough that we can get a bird over to Jaya by noon. Preferably before then."

Jim specifically asked for Yaone to wake him up. While he was unsure if his boss was having him on or not the idea of having Doc wake him up was not one he wanted to consider. For all he knew he could wake up in an ice-bath and missing a kidney if he did that for all that he trust he had in the doc's ability to heal. The 'crew's' Doc was more than a little lacking in ethics.

* * *

**Grand Line –Paradise –Near Jaya(?)**

Aki was bored. She was also edgy. Part of that was that she had nothing to do, and part of that was from using the den den mushi off and on throughout the day. She wasn't on the den den mushi the entire day. She had done various chores around the ship –magically, but really no one had to know that. After calling Jim, she had called various contacts, caught up on some business, made a few tentative business deals that would require further communication, had one surprising call and fun conversation around six in the evening when she was cooking dinner and had later notified her father what Blackbeard was likely up to. Admittedly due to being on different sides of the world, there was about a ten hour time difference on that call but the lack of sleep really didn't affect her. She hadn't slept properly in _months_. Naps do not count. Even if she did get about seven hours a day –they just weren't consecutive. Then again, any sailor or soldier learns how to instantly wake and sleep so short naps were easiest as she was manning the Jubilance by herself.

Most of the afternoon went to managing her various businesses and networks. A number of the information networks had been put under one of her subordinates, which lessened her workload immensely, as he was excellent at his job. She wouldn't accept anything less than that. Her preparations for tomorrow –no, it was a few hours past midnight now so today- and work had killed most of an afternoon and the evening, as magic made quick work of every chore on ship.

She spent part of the evening doing kata as some meditation before the drive to do that left her as she settled down to what was really bugging her, after calling her father that is which would have been about one in the morning. Her worry about Ace was causing her to fret. She hated it. One lesson she had learned well over her lifetimes was that showing weakness was a declaration of stupidity, trust and strength. What was being shown depended on who and the situation.

The whole situation with Blackbeard made her edgy in the way that it set off _all_ of her war-veteran instincts. The guy had been a pirate longer than Ace had been _alive_. This by itself wasn't that impressive. A number of no-name and infamous pirates 'retired' to various places for various reason each year. Certain facts gathered by her skill with the colors of observation and other talents tuned to hunting purposes combined with the knowledge that Blackbeard had purposely acted in the way of a good son of Whitebeard for beyond her own physical age painted a much more disturbing image.

Blackbeard wasn't anyone's friend, comrade, nakama or even ally. Aki was damn certain that he only marginally cared for what crew he had assembled. Enough to endear himself to them, and have them work to make him keep doing so. Otherwise, he'd kill them. Cruel but effective as such a system encouraged infighting if the captain wasn't a ruthless bastard –not that Teach had that problem. To have been a part of Whitbeard's family for over two decades and then not only leave but do so by killing Thatch over a piece of loot? That was beyond cold. Thatch was a nice guy for a renowned pirate. Just because she liked him for his character didn't mean that he didn't earn his reputation. She also liked him for all that he wasn't her type, and Blackbeard had killed him. Actually, from what Ace had told her about the body, Thatch was clearly assassinated. One attack to the back through the lung. Blackbeard favored a claw like attachment for a weapon hence how her father ended up with those scars on his face. Blackbeard being larger than average sized, had a proportionally sized claw. The spacing of each blade was just perfect for slipping through the rib cage of the average sized male. At least this claw was. Shanks' scars wouldn't be as close together if it was the same claw for all that she hadn't been told that Teach caused them. It was hard to mistake certain auras for others no matter how faded the auras were especially when marked with malice.

While highly unlikely that anyone else would see and know what, much less be able to match auras of people no matter how faded… Marshall D. Teach might currently be hidden from more mundane methods of finding people, from a magical perspective the man's trail could light up the sky. To someone who knew magic well, karma had that effect.

Tracking the impossible to find was her pride and ability for all that she was known as a phenomenal bounty hunter. Most bounty hunters had a territory that they 'hunted' in and stuck to that. Some better ones tracked others down but those were usually political as she knew from experience. She proved she was the best every time she tracked down Dragon. Seriously, even with all the resources the WG threw into trying to find the man, they usually failed as did everyone else. He was most recently in North Blue. She had 'abducted' the man away from his work which caused some protest. Then with a quick bit of work, she had changed his appearance and dragged him out for wolf steak stew which if she hadn't hunted the wolfies down would have cost her more beri than she had on her. Luffy's appetite was clearly a 'D' thing or pretty damn genetic as she knew Garp's appetite too. She needed to meet more that had that initial to be certain of it. Teach didn't quite count. He lacked a certain depth that she associated with that initial. Remnants of Roger had it –she saw them_ everywhere_. Hell, even Rouge's grave had that feeling that she was associating with that initial. Teach didn't.

There was a trick to sensing and matching the auras using haki, and it wasn't without drawbacks. Keeping her own aura so restrained and muted allowed her a much better picture and understanding the area and people around her as it would be done without the interference of her own aura. In other words –in order to truly listen, one had to first shut up. Easier said than done. The main drawbacks was that as her aura wasn't there to buffer more malignant ones unless she let more of it loose which made her more 'vulnerable' seeming and she _was_ –her range of observation haki and her overall fighting capacity were proportionately diminished. Shutting up meant having less of a 'voice' and less 'power.' Teach's aura and her own sensitivity when she was paying attention to them meant he was pathetically easy for her to find and avoid –she wouldn't hunt the man down as that was Ace's _responsibility_. She might need to have words with Whitebeard again, but those could wait.

Still that was Ace's 'contract' for as long as the old man was alive. Not that she'd let him know that. Infringing on a contract was more than bad luck. Superstitions had their basis in fact after all. This world was practically saturated with magic for all that the people here couldn't use it. Not even the Tenryubito for all that they were descended from the 'creators of the world' whatever that meant. Even wild magic had its rules as mutable as they were. Breaking understood but informal contracts like agreeing to be Whitebeard's son, much less breaking it to such an extent made it easy to notice such a trail. At least as Blackbeard didn't have magic, wild contractual magic couldn't do much to him as he had killed Thatch before eating his devil fruit. Say what you will, but magic was both prompt and persistent. Some bad luck and that was it. Magic was wonderful but it made things complicated as much as it uncomplicated things. She was not amused to find out after Nundu ate one that devil fruits technically bound a person to a magical contract that would break upon the eater's death. It did explain a lot of her questions and concerns about devil fruit though. Like why water and sea stone had the effects it did on fruit users.

For now though, she had a turtle to direct to Jaya… she shifted focus to the turtle. She'd have to let him rest soon, which put her on Jaya around nine in the morning if she was doing her math right and gave the turtle most of the night to recover. She ran the figures over in her head once more since most things in the ocean kept swimming asleep or not. Yeah, those seemed correct. She leaned on Jubilance's railing and took a bite of the killer key lime pie she had baked earlier. It was good.

"The best thing about this pie is that I don't have to share it with anyone, so it's all mine." She commented aloud. She took another bite to shake off heavy thoughts and intentionally thought of lighter topics. Honryuu got remarkably heavy when she was thinking about things like that and the turtle didn't need to be slowed down.

* * *

**Grand Line –Paradise –Jaya**

Okay, so her math was wrong. Not by much. The newly dubbed Snapper had snagged a surface current inside of Jaya's magnetic territory. It was about ten minutes off and she had directed the turtle to the bay. She might have crashed the turtle into turtle into what looked like a hotel, but after jump off the turtle she had Snapper retreat into the bay while she quickly disappeared from the destroyed place.

She had changed into clothes that looked nice and allowed her to fight in while not compromising her identity. A dark navy long sleeve shirt, brown cargo pants and boots that would support her ankles. A colorful sash –she got it from Sabo's first mate so it was eyesearing- holding Honryuu who had a far longer length of chain attached to the hilt than the sword did yesterday. Using metal much less adding more metal to fight someone who was lightning would be considered suicide, but there was a method to her madness and Honryuu wanted it even if the excess length of fine chain was loosely wrapped around her left hand. Magic used during Honryuu's creation granted it greater awareness and abilities but also made it into something of a diva. Drawing a blade from the same side was unwieldy at times so she was actually wearing Honryuu on her right hip. Enkiri was resting on her left, mostly concealed by the sash.

Her large caliber gun was on her left leg, while her smaller one was concealed in the small of her back. Her hair was left loose and fluffy today. As Jubilance wasn't on the water, there was a limited amount of water being filtered on board for hygienic purposes. She had a bath, cooked and washed dishes which had drained the tank. It left her short of water to soak her hair with before the night's tangles were brushed out. Sure she could conjure water, but a lot of elemental magicks were easier where magic ran wild. In a town on an island she could get a nice glass of water and it would work fine. Out on the sea, she'd get a good few gallons of water. In the Grand Line just made a localized flood. Vanishing the water didn't work so well either. She could use magic, but in a far different form than what she was used to. Honryuu when the blade wanted to cooperate worked as an amplifier. It wouldn't be so bad if Honryuu wasn't extremely reactive anyway, much less that Honryuu was able to work mental magicks on a large scale should the blade want to.

After eating breakfast, the bar-fight that happened after, her paying for her breakfast and damages using the losers' money, she found a nice place to sit and wait. She had no idea why any pirate town like Mock Town she had been to never had a working fountain. Lack of public concern as the public was traveling pirates?

She closed her eyes and began a conscious recall of all that she had sensed. Nundu and Luffy had been in here more recently. Luffy had knocked some mad dog off his high-horse. One of Doflamingo's minions. Echoes further back say that Luffy and Crabgrass –she might need to find him a new nickname- had lost some blood and gained some injuries but it was intentional. A bunch of idiots, Teach and Teach going after Luffy.

Damn. This however was hours ago, but Luffy hadn't been in any distress from Teach and she'd know as she was observing Teach's trail. A sense of irony and resignation and try again later let her know that Teach had found Luffy and missed.

"Hey, pretty thing. How about you and I get to know each other better, if you know what I mean?"

Aki opened her eyes. He wasn't bad looking but the personality and intent in his body language dropped his chances to the negatives.

"I'm not interested in you." She informed him as she walked by. "Your head's too little." At only fifteen million, he was very small fry.

"Hey! Bith-"

Aki didn't care to hear what he had to say and threw him through the nearest building. A few people perked up to see what was going on and her identity was figured out by the smarter pirates. The cock-sure idiots all charged. There was a good distance to the small skiff on the docks she had seen while Snapper was pulling into the harbor. As Jubilance was still on Snapper's head and she had just realized that she couldn't meet up with Fuu here, now at any rate. Spying the charging mass of piracy and seeing the ramshackle nature of the town an idea of how to inform them formed and made her want to break out into a cackle. This seemed fun, and after a certain distance, Snapper would come back to follow her.

* * *

**Grand Line –Paradise –Near Sky Island**

After a rolling brawl that had destroyed part of the town and knocked out a lot of the pirates, Aki had left Mock Town. She had lamented to one of the stronger guys who was left conscious that it was a shame that her mark passed through so quickly. Weaklings and most rookies didn't interest her at all, but with the bounty hike on one of them she was curious enough to look even though she was on vacation.

Now she was triangulating the distance she had to go, while still keeping her heading to this Sky Island. The skiff had got her to Snapper and then was promptly abandoned. Jubilance was a fine ship and Snapper was dismissed to below the waves. He wasn't far below, but feeling that something huge below water was normal for the Grand Line. The fact that he was a turtle was even better. He wasn't as murderous as some fish. So he was easily dismissed.

She was setting the ropes up so that she could have Jubilance properly picked up by the bird when she sensed the bullet and moved so that it would whistle by her ear –and into her hair where she kept it- camouflaged by her movements so they seemed rather erratic. She had to hand it to the sniper. He had good aim considering the winds and distance. A quick play dead and quickly cutting off her aura from leaving her body and entering a meditation known as the corpse meditation she pretended that she had died. At least to anyone with haki, if they were using it.

Still, had she been found a group of pirates who had been shipwrecked? As Teach's aura moved closer she amended that assumption –he was having a subordinate push the remnants of his ship along by swimming. Her concerns mounted. Informal contracts wouldn't allow her to without obtaining consequences and Blackbeard didn't have a bounty on his head which would null the possible consequences. How best to work with this?

The body on the rigging smiled. Honryuu gleamed. The water surged and Aki fell on the pirate boarding Jubilance. Enkiri tasted blood and then the pirate was tossed back to his Captain before he could react. All of them were taller than her, she noted. Even the guy who looked but didn't feel like he was about to die soon along with his pretty pony.

"You should keep better watch over your crew's zealousness." She chided. "Committing piracy is what pirates do, but you'd think with all the time in the New World you've spent you'd choose your targets better. After all, attacking a girl enjoying her vacation is bad form. Don't you agree Teach?"

* * *

A/N; It's the one year anniversary. Go me!

I going to be curious about the reaction to the fact that I'll be including a lemon soon. It's plot relevant to happen, but I could work around it. Should I add it or not in order to comply with the rating guidelines because being explicit makes this MA instead of M?

1. Remember way back in Orange Town where Luffy fought Buggy? How the dog bit Luffy after being poked? This is what Zoro is referencing.

2. Nundu is a cat. He's also a very in the moment cat for all of his intelligence. He's also small –so he can be very difficult to detect with haki. It is described as hearing 'voices' for most people, but it is harder to hear an intelligent cat than a person, much less a cat being a cat. Enel has the greatest haki mastery on Skypeia. In combination with his devil fruit, Enel can overhear everything that is said on Skypeia with a few exceptions such as Gan Fall's place which is either out of range and Enel is lying or there's something in the area that shields people. Nundu being aware of who and what Enel is and can do is being overly cautious.

3. Fuu-chan looks like Nina Windia from Breath of Fire II. This is intentional. She's somewhat based on Nina.


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